From the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area.

Rob (@paintaneight) pointed out a recent letter to the editor in the TU calling for the construction of an aquarium in downtown Albany instead of a convention center. From the letter by Lino Verelli of Slingerlands:

... An educational center to see, feel and be able to interact with the creatures and beauty of the oceans.

Open seven days, it would provide jobs for a dedicated staff of professionals and the countless support services necessary to its maintenance.

If managed correctly, this center would generate jobs, sales taxes, hotel taxes, visitors' fees and something totally unique to the fabric of this city.

Rob was curious what people thought about this idea (we get the sense he likes it, but we're just reading between the tweets) -- and so are we. So, aquarium -- yes/no/maybe?

We re-tweeted Rob's question yesterday and there were a handful of responses -- they're after the jump. Update: We've also embedded comments from AOA's Facebook page.

Our initial reaction to the idea: skeptical. It seems like an urban planning cliche, a possible white elephant (or maybe "white whale" is more apt).

photo: Flickr user seannaber

[View the story "An aquarium for Albany?" on Storify]

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