2002 May 22

City of Pittsburgh

Department of General Services

Room 526, City County Building

414 Grant Street

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219

Re: Request for Proposals for Buhl Building Artifacts

Dear Sir:

Enclosed is the official Response to your solicitation for Request for Proposals(RFP) for disposition of historic equipment and artifacts in The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, by a new organization titled, Friends of the Zeiss.

Friends of the Zeiss, begun last month, seeks to preserve the historic integrity and functionality of the equipment and artifacts remaining in The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science. As you will read in our Response, an application is pending to become a "project" of the Tides Center of Western Pennsylvania. When project status is approved, in a few months, we will be able to use the Tides Center's 501(c)(3) IRS tax-exempt status to begin fundraising to implement the proposals offered in our Response.

I would be happy to meet with any City representative, or answer any further questions regarding this Response, at your convenience. I may be contacted at the addresses and telephone number above.

Please note that, for some unknown reason, the first e-mail address mentioned above has been out-of-order for the last 24 hours; I will be seeking its restoration shortly. However, I can definitely be contacted using the second e-mail address.

I look forward to hearing from you, and to working with the City of Pittsburgh in the preservation of these historic pieces of equipment and artifacts.

Sincerely yours,

Glenn A. Walsh

Project Director

gaw

Enclosures