Pueblo City Council debates putting $885K towards Leonardo da Vinci museum

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America was the center of a heated debate at Pueblo City Council Monday night on whether over $880,000 in public money should be put towards the museum.

In a year that is already putting the city in a budget crunch, some residents are questioning why the city would allocate so much. It was a heated debate at city council tonight as the council debated sending over that money, leaving residents with questions.

The funding has been a major talking point in Pueblo over the past month, and it showed Monday night as people filled the back wall to speak. If the vote passes, it would help fund things like an indoor cafe, a remodel to create an additional exhibit, signage for the building and construction of more permanent exhibits, according to officials.

Even as heated debate went on over the funding, the museum had plenty of supporters.

"The arts and culture is pretty hidden in this town," Mark, a local art gallery owner said. "It needs to be known and the museum is going to help bring that in. It's going to bring more people to make it too. Just please, Somebody urge you to vote for this."

Meanwhile, opponents of the funding question how many jobs the museum will actually bring in. They also brought up that while they've seen some numbers about visitors at the museum, they didn't view it as a consistent attraction.

At the end of the meeting, the city council voted to delay the meeting to Sept. 14.

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