Statement before the Glenn A. Walsh
Board of
Directors,
Allegheny Regional
Asset District: Telephone: 412-561-7876
Children’s Museum Electronic Mail: < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Seeks Tax Funds for Internet Web
Site: < http://www.planetarium.cc
>
Old Post Office Rehab 2006
August 28
Good afternoon, I am Glenn A.
Walsh of
For
Fiscal Year 2007, the Children’s Museum wishes to repair and restore the roof
of the historic Old Allegheny Post Office
building
in an $89,278 project—half to be paid for by State taxpayers through a Keystone
Grant and half to be paid for by
County
taxpayers through a RAD grant.
When
discussing the deteriorated condition of the Post Office roof in the grant
application, the Children’s Museum noted that in
March
of 2002 a roofing contractor “found that the roof had open seams and
deteriorated flashing and recommended that the roof
be
replaced…There is also physical evidence of plaster damage in the southeast
& southwest corners of the high ceiling near the
Post
Office building’s copper dome. Water is coming into the building because of the
roof deficiencies. Patching and painting is
needed
to restore the integrity of the building.”
Well,
this clearly demonstrates the extremely misguided priorities of Children’s
Museum management. In 2002, a contractor
recommended
roof replacement, when the Children’s Museum was completing a $29 million
capital campaign. Such a large
capital
campaign could have easily been reprogrammed to include a $90,000 roof
replacement project. Instead of using the
capital
campaign money to restore the Post Office roof, it was used to gut Buhl Planetarium’s historic
Planetarium Theater,
Observatory,
and Lecture Hall, and remove an astronomical inscription from the Bible, from
the east exterior wall of the
Planetarium
building.
Now
the Children’s Museum seeks taxpayers’ money to restore the Post Office
roof—notice that their proposed project
does
not include one dime of private funds! And, unlike the Buhl Planetarium
building which is owned by the City, the
Post
Office building is owned by the Children’s Museum. It is now clear that the
Children’s Museum has no interest in
The
Children’s Museum knew the Post Office roof was a priority and ignored it until
the capital project funding was
depleted.
Now they expect $90,000 of taxpayers’ money to fix the roof in their
privately-owned building.
It
is the position of Friends of the Zeiss that no public funds should be used for
this roof replacement project, or for general
subsidy
of the Children’s Museum, until the Children’s Museum presents a plan to truly
restore important
with
the return of the historic Buhl Planetarium artifacts, particularly the Zeiss
II Planetarium Projector and 10-inch
Siderostat-type
Refractor Telescope, to be used to teach Science to children visiting the
Children’s Museum.
Thank
you.
gaw