The founders of State Theatre Inc. (STI) have asked the State College Borough Council for $300,000 to help in the renovations of the new downtown theater, The Centre County State Theatre.

Mike Negra, president and founder of STI, told Council Monday night that the theater is expected to bring to Centre County region an estimated "$7 million economic impact in terms of new revenue brought in by the theater and other businesses as a result of the renovation."

Teresa Sparacino, director of the downtown improvement district, agreed, saying the theater would make downtown more attractive and bring in more tax revenue for the borough.

The question should be, how much money should council invest in this theater compared to other small businesses that come into the area? Is this a last resort or a cop out by STI owners to get the necessary funding?

STI would bring more artistic performances and a diversity of events downtown. But a wide variety of artistic programming is already available in this community.

Penn State houses a number of theatres on campus and now even in State College, with the newly erected Penn StateDowntown Theatre Center that opened this summer. While promoting the arts is a positive step, Council should investigate whether the arts are truly in need of promotion in a community that obviously already supports it.

Also, Sparacino said this theater would "make the downtown a place where people want to live in and want to pay top dollar to live in."

Is this stretching it? Will renovations to a theatre really make people want to live here?

STI has been selling "pavers," bricks that are engraved with donors' names for $150 a piece, and other money has been given to STI for the project. Options such as these should be completely exhausted before Council is involved in the process.

Three hundred thousand dollars is a large chunk of Council's money. Before Council decides to give this much money, it should investigate and ensure that funding from the borough is the only option left for STI.

If the organization can find other ways to fund its efforts, it should. It should also investigate just who would profit most from donating to STI.