Crony Capitalism-Funded Nashville SoundWaves Waterpark to Open in December

The SoundWaves water park at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center is scheduled to open in December, according to a press release. Are you excited? Before you grab your swimming trunks and bathing suits, don’t forget, Nashville residents, your taxes helped pay for this thing. Also, don’t forget you can’t take so much as one dip inside this water park unless you pony up $250 for a one night stay at the Gaylord. Essentially, you can’t take advantage of something your taxes helped pay for. As the Tennessee Watchdog reported in 2017, Nashville Metro officials gave away $14 million in incentives so Ryman Entertainment officials could build the water park. This, even though the city already has a popular, privately run waterpark — Nashville Shores. Nashville Shores will now have a taxpayer-subsidized competitor. Council member Jim Shulman called it corporate welfare. “I can’t think of any reason why government should be using taxpayer money to help one business compete against another similar business,” Shulman said to the publication. The writers at the World Socialist Web site scolded the agreement as did the staff members at the right-of-center think tank the Beacon Center of Tennessee. Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry…

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