Crowdfunding for the Velodrome in Coatesville?

All over the world crowd funding is being used to fund public projects, usually some portion of a structure or park. This is a prizewinning video from the 2012 TED:
SEE:
THE CITY 2.0 A gathering place for urban citizens to share innovations and inspire actions - See more at: http://www.thecity2.org/#sthash.djbiEJiB.dpuf

I think we already have done "The City 2.0" in Coatesville. Some of the projects begun by local citizens in Coatesville have utilized Facebook to get their word out and we came together to clean up, plant trees, install playground equipment or touch up Coatesville with paint. I think funding the National Velodrome is another way we could come together in Coatesville and the Delaware Valley. 

We could do more. I believe the proposed National Velodrome Center in Coatesville, PA would make an ideal crowdfunding project. The Velodrome already has a broad base of support and I believe that crowdfunding some portion of the National Velodrome would add to that base.

"Your broadest base of supporters probably doesn't have 20 or 30 bucks to spare, and that's OK," Barasch says. "But they are seriously engaged and that attracts big money.’ In other words, crowd psychology can be as important in executing such projects as the money itself.

"When you see thousands of people involved," says SpaceHive's Gourlay, "that makes it very attractive for politicians and for industry to get involved. These are their customers."

Consider the Luchtsingel pedestrian bridge in Rotterdam. For generations, a major road sliced through central Rotterdam, cutting off the city's bustling Hofplein district from easy pedestrian access. The result was a dangerous crossing. Several young architects proposed crowdfunding a pedestrian bridge and plaza where locals could hang out and reclaim the region from cars and trucks. Their funding method influenced their design: 17,000 U-shaped planks to sell and stamp with the donor's name or message. Called I Make Rotterdam, the project's slogan is "The more you donate, the longer the bridge". Donors can buy a single plank for €25 (£20) or a larger section for €1,250 (£1,068). The project, begun in 2012, captured the public imagination and became part of Rotterdam's urban renewal. And because of its crowdfunding success, the bridge won a €4 million (£3.4 million) municipal grant to continue. "It's a new reality," says one of its architects, 35-year-old Kristian Koreman. "We have retreating governments and an ongoing economic crisis. But people are no longer simply going to wait for things to happen. There is a soft revolution going on.”

From:

Built by the crowd: the changing world of public infrastructure Wired.co.uk

 November 13 by Kevin Grey

Also see:

MIT Center for Civic Media

Civic Crowdfunding, Community Assets and the New Economy

RODRIGO DAVIES

Comparative Media Studies @rodrigodavies