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Citing the success of the Eden Project, as if that project bears some relation to this one, deepens skepticism among those of us who know that the Eden Project succeeded because of two unique features. One, it took advantage of a microclimate in the "British Riviera," where winter temperatures rarely drop below 56 degrees, in order to extend the types of plants that could be grown.

Two, it is built in a long-standing tourist destination. It bears no similarity to plunking a stand-alone project alongside a freeway in the middle of our windswept plains.

It is this type of disconnected promotion that leads citizens to scratch their heads at the infusion of federal dollars for such a project. To many people the science does not add up, the projected attendance does not add up, therefore the project does not add up.

Let Ted Townsend spend his own money on his own dreams. Otherwise, it warrants more than a deadline — give it a place on a dusty shelf.

Eileen M. Robb
Johnston