IS MARIETTA HISTORY ENOUGH to warrant having its own museum of history? Unquestionably, the answer is yes. Has city hall done everything it can do to ensure that the city's history museum is viable? No. But hopefully that will soon begin to change during the tenure of new Mayor Steve "Thunder" Tumlin. And the first and most important step that needs taking is the expansion of the museum into the first floor of its present quarters in the antebellum Kennesaw House just off the Square.

The Kennesaw House is owned by the Downtown Marietta Development Authority. Unfortunately, the DMDA too often thinks it is the "tail" that should wag the city hall "dog," rather than the other way around - and this is one of those cases.

Museum officials have spent the past year or more in fruitless efforts to obtain the DMDA's assent to move into the first floor of the Kennesaw House, where it already occupies the second and third floors. Having the first floor would offer more display space, more space for the museum's gift shop, free up space for storage elsewhere in the building and even more important, give the museum higher visibility and more attractiveness to potential visitors.

But the DMDA landlords have given them the back of their hand. They failed to notify the museum when previous tenant A.G. Edwards & Co. vacated the first floor more than a year ago, and signed up City Councilman/downtown landowner/DMDA power-behind-the-throne Philip Goldstein as leasing agent for the space - a gross conflict of interest that should never have happened. Goldstein showed the first floor to potential tenants, but not to museum leaders - the most logical tenant for the space.

***
DMDA LEADERS have a different agenda that can be summed up in a word: "Parking." They see construction of a deck on what's now a surface parking lot across the CSX Railroad tracks from the Marietta Welcome Center. Revenues from the deck would go to pay off the bonds used to build it. They also want City Hall to give them control of the other public parking spaces around the Square, which would be converted to metered parking, with revenues going to pay for the deck. If those conditions are met, they would be willing to let the museum move into the first floor of the Kennesaw House. In effect, they are holding the museum and Kennesaw House hostage in pursuit of their parking scheme swap.

DMDA Chairman Tom Browning argues the museum lacks the funds to pay the additional rent for the first floor. Not so, retorts museum board leader Brent Brown. And Browning appointed a three-man committee of his board last month to negotiate with the museum. On that committee are merchant Johnny Fulmer, builder Roger DeBoy and Mayor Tumlin (an ex officio DMDA board member). They hopefully will be more successful than Browning, whose flippant, sarcastic remarks have done the DMDA no good. The more he says, the less sincere he seems.

You can bet that if Browning owned the Kennesaw House, he would be cutting its rent and pulling out all the stops to try to fill it. But it's obvious Browning is not serious about leasing the first floor to the museum. The DMDA was charging Edwards $36,000 a year for the space, but is oblivious to the economy and unfazed by the loss of that year's worth of rental income.

"They're talking market rates, yet the property's been empty for a year. What makes more sense, to have that vacant and not helping anyone or have a bigger, more vibrant museum that is a draw for tourists and benefits merchants on the Square?" Brown asks.

***
THE DMDA BOUGHT the Kennesaw House in the early 1990s at the behest of then-Mayor Joe Mack Wilson specifically to house the museum. But to hear Browning and DMDA lawyer Tom Cauthorn tell it, by way of explaining their refusal to cut their rental rate or give the museum the deal it deserves, the purpose of that purchase now has been transmogrified into an investment opportunity, a money-making venture for the DMDA with the primary goal being return on capital.

That may be what's best for the DMDA, but it's not what's best for the city or for the museum. Controlling parking is a legitimate function of city government and should not be farmed out to subordinate bodies like the DMDA, which essentially sees Marietta Square as its own fiefdom.

Moreover, erecting parking meters on the Square would be a new tax on something that is now free. It also would be a tax by DMDA members on their own patrons. If the DMDA needs money to pay for a parking deck, it has the inherent power to raise up to 25 mills of taxes on its members to do so. If they wanted to pass those taxes on to their customers via higher prices and fees, that could do so.

***
THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY is the natural tenant for the first floor of the Kennesaw House. Tumlin needs to spare no effort - whether as a member of Browning's committee or via his powers as mayor - to ensure that happens. In the meantime, he should deep-six any further talk of metered parking downtown, at least by the DMDA. It's not going to fly with the public.

The museum, and the Kennesaw House are among the crown jewels of Marietta and Cobb history. The best way of enhancing their viability is for Tumlin and the council to do what they must to bring the DMDA in line and allow for the museum's expansion. The time for games is over.