With the announcement of the Coast Guard base's closure, officials and developers began offering plans for development. Mayor Giuliani considered building a casino and hotel on Governors Island. Other plans entailed preserving the island as a museum; converting it into a public park; establishing a free-trade zone; and building an educational campus, a prison, an amusement park, a golf courses, or even a nightclub district. In 1996, the Van Alen Institute hosted an ideas competition called "Public Property", attracting over 200 submissions. An agreement between the city and state to maintain the island for public use was reached in 2000. Throughout this time, the federal government continued to maintain the island for $20 million a year.