Bush Library details emerge
Southern Methodist University will disclose on Friday the planned details of the George W. Bush presidential library.
According to published reports, the university will announce a 99-year-lease, with available extensions for up to 246 years. Other reports say the library will cost between $200 to $500 million to build. All of the money will come from private donations.
The site selected for the library is near the intersection of Central Expresway and SMU Boulevard.
Final approval for the project, which is expected to take up to five years to complete, must be given from the Methodist Church, which owns the land.
More than 11,500 individuals have signed an online petition urging the church to deny land rights for the library. The petition was launched by a collection of Methodist ministers and church officials http://payday-z.com.
According to recent findings by American Research Group Inc., a national polling firm, President George W. Bush has an approval rating of 19 percent — the lowest in recorded American history.
Still, the library is expected to become a significant tourist attraction for the Dallas area; various projections put the economic impact of the library at several hundred million.
SMU officials involved in negotiations with the Bush Foundation regarding the library were not immediately available to comment on Friday.
President Bush's wife, First Lady Laura Bush, is an SMU alum.
Web sites: www.smu.edu, www.protectsmu.org