In the years before Lincolnites decided to build Pershing Auditorium, there was plenty of debate over whether it was in the right place and whether it was the right thing to do.

On Thursday, the 50-year-old gray lady now called Pershing Center swung her doors open and invited the public in to help decide whether it’s time to replace her with a newer model.

Something more on the scale of the Omaha Qwest Center or the elaborate John Paul Jones Arena in Virginia.

Something with almost all available options.

That’s what city officials, an arena promotion group and the 2015 Vision group of business leaders invited the community to consider during two open houses Thursday.

An estimated 350 people attended the two open houses.

They showed a promotional video featuring arena boosters and the mayor. They invited people to ask questions and get answers from “experts” in four sections anchoring the Pershing floor.

And they took people on tours of Pershing so they could see for themselves outdated dressing rooms, inadequate restrooms and dimensions that squeeze out an increasing number of events.

Pershing can seat 6,000 people, 7,700 in some cases. Supporters say they envision a new arena seating up to 15,000.

Guys like Ralph Hayden came, and asked questions about public transportation to the proposed arena and the wisdom of building it in a flood plain.

He’s lived in Lincoln since 1971, so he wasn’t around for the last debate, but this time he supports the idea.

“We need to do something but we cannot mimic Omaha because they’re so much larger,” Hayden said.

But he thinks supporters want to squeeze the arena into too small an area west of the Haymarket, and he thinks the proposed parking is too far away.

In addition to surface parking and one or two parking garages, arena supporters have talked about a trolley system to take people from downtown parking garages to the arena.

Many attendees had questions about access to the area targeted for an arena. They questioned whether the proposed road enhancements, primarily to Sun Valley Boulevard, would be adequate.

In one corner of Pershing on Thursday, City Finance Director Don Herz fielded questions about how the estimated $244 million hotel, convention center, arena and parking garages would be financed.

He said supporters would try to avoid funding the project with property taxes, but some combination of other types of taxes is unavoidable.

He said one of the most significant one-time revenue sources would be private donations, for example, from the Vision 2015 group, which has identified the arena as one of 10 pillars it wants the community to build.

The first open house attracted a lot of businessmen, and a few young people — people supporters hope to keep in Lincoln with an arena.

Ryan Polak, 21, didn’t like what he was seeing. He said it’s too late for Lincoln to try to catch up to Omaha’s Qwest Center, and he suspects many Vision 2015 members will benefit from the project. He’d rather see Lincoln get its budget problems under control and improve its streets.

He was joined in opposition by Boyd Ready, who lived in Kearney for 34 years and moved to Lincoln three years ago. He hopes the arena doesn’t become the financial albatross the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument did for Kearney.

He thinks Lincoln would be better off fixing its streets and creating major thoroughfares through town.

As one opponent of the arena questioned the wisdom and environmental obstacles of the project, she was reminded by Assistant Planning Director Kent Morgan that Lincoln residents went through similar debates in the 1930s — but ultimately decided to tax themselves to pay for Pershing.

And within a few years of the Pershing opening, people were singing its praises.

Now it’s time to decide whether it’s time for the fat lady to sing.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.