Friends of the Zeiss

P.O. Box 1041

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-1041 U.S.A.

Telephone: 412-561-7876

Electronic Mail: < friendsofthezeiss@planetarium.cc >

Internet Web Site: < http://www.friendsofthezeiss.org >

NEWS RELEASE

For immediate release: 2003 August 27

For more information -- Glenn A. Walsh:

Daytime: E-Mail < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >

Evening: Telephone 412-561-7876

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM RUNS HALF-MILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS

TWO YEARS IN A ROW

Pittsburgh, August 27 – “According to the annual grant application submitted to the Allegheny Regional Asset District, last month by the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, the Children’s Museum has run HALF-MILLION DOLLAR DEFICITS IN THE LAST TWO FISCAL YEARS, in budgets of approximately two million dollars each! They also ran a $206,000 deficit in 2001 and a $77,000 deficit in 2000!”

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director of Friends of the Zeiss, began his August 27 public statement, before the Board of Directors of the Allegheny Regional Asset District (ARAD), with these surprising facts. Saying that this year’s Children’s Museum application to ARAD for annual funding also forecasts “no deficit for the upcoming fiscal year,” as previous applications had claimed, Mr. Walsh said, “Anyone looking at the last three grant applications they have submitted can clearly see that the Children’s Museum lacks any credibility, whatsoever, in fiscal accountability!”

Mr. Walsh also stated, “As a former Life Trustee with the Andrew Carnegie Free Library (of Carnegie, Pennsylvania), who served as Library Treasurer from 1995 to 1996, I find their financial behavior appalling and completely irresponsible. If the Children’s Museum runs these kinds of deficits while still operating in the small Old Allegheny Post Office building, what will their deficits look like when they have a building four times the size to operate? When the capital account is all used-up, will they then expect the RAD Board to greatly increase their subsidy, to cover these larger deficits?

“Their business plan, for the expanded building, includes rental income from non-profit organizations. I have direct experience in such rentals, regarding the Music Hall and Lecture Hall of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library. I know that such rental income falls short of actual needs, as non-profit organizations can only pay so much in rent. If the rent is increased too much, the non-profit organizations will not be able to pay and will have to leave the Children’s Museum, leaving the Museum with even less revenue.”

Mr. Walsh went on to say, “If the Children’s Museum expansion project must go forward, then additional revenue sources must be found for operating the expanded building. The use of the Zeiss II Planetarium Projector and 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope, for historical presentations, could be one way to attract more visitors into the building.

“In May, we learned that The Carnegie Science Center has abandoned their expansion project. And, considering that the Science Center has laid-off 10 full-time employees and 2 part-time employees this year, there is little chance that a new expansion project will be considered in the foreseeable future. Without a Science Center expansion, there is no space in the Science Center building for the Zeiss Projector and Siderostat Telescope. Hence, the only hope to return these historic Pittsburgh artifacts to public service is to return them to the Buhl Planetarium building.”

Friends of the Zeiss was formally organized in April of 2002, with the mission "To preserve, maintain and operate, and to raise funds for these purposes, two historic scientific instruments and associated apparatus and artifacts originated at The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."
 
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Attachment (on reverse side): Text of Statement of Glenn A. Walsh Before ARAD Board, 2003 August 27.

Also see -- Children's Museum Deficits for Fiscal Years 2000-2003

News Articles Regarding Carnegie Science Center Employee Layoffs:

From the Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh - 2003 July 17:
Off Center
New Carnegie Science Center layoffs spread across programs
By Bill O'Driscoll

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh - 2003 April 5:
TV Notes:
WPXI drops contract, ends Science Center local forecasts
By Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV Editor

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ALSO

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh - 2004 April 2:
Carnegie's Brown out after 11 years
Library, museums' president says decision was his own
By Marylynne Pitz and Patricia Lowry

Regarding the surprise resignation of the President of Carnegie Institute and of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. In article, it talks about 2003 Carnegie layoffs and the diminshed possibility of a Science Center expansion.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh - 2005 January 14:
Postal station to close its doors at the Carnegie Library in Oakland
By Bill Zlatos
Cost of this contract Post Office had been shared by Carnegie Museums and Carnegie Library.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh - 2005 April 12:
WTAE drops DeNardo name from forecasts By Rob Owen
"The station continues to partner with the Carnegie Science Center on some projects..."