As promised, here is a reply from Keith Johnson on what is /really/ going on with the planetarium.
Mark ----- Forwarded message from KeithJohnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----- Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 11:29:57 -0800 Subject: Re: RN&R Article From: KeithJohnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Mark C Ballew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.551) On Friday, December 27, 2002, at 05:22 PM, Mark C Ballew wrote: >What exactly is going on? Thanks for writing, Mark. What's happened as far as we can tell is that the UNR administration has decided they need parking space for Lawlor Events Center NOW. They told us some months ago that we could expect to see the planetarium get torn down in "three to five" years. This was disappointing, but at least in that time we would be able to tell whether the proposed new 85,000 sq. ft. science center that a committee of local citizens and UNR reps (including me) has been planning for over three years would actually come to pass. That process got put on hold more than a year ago (and that's a whole separate story, also involving UNR administration), but there are signs it's beginning to move forward again. But even with the best possible results of that process, I can't see how Science Center can be finished in less than three or four years, and likely longer than that. And it may not happen at all. And if it does, it won't be UNR that sponsors it or does any "moving": we've been told that. It will be an independent facility, though we hope with ties to UNR. But then, in mid-December, planetarium personnel heard a rumor that the schedule had been changed. Upon inquiring, we found that they had decided to shut us down next June. I don't know when they planned to let us in on that news. They don't have any firm plans what to do with the equipment: the words "put in storage" have been mentioned. There will be a lot of development going on in mid-campus, including a new library and new student center, plus a new quadrangle. This will wipe out 1100 parking spaces near Lawlor, which will have to be replaced. In addition, UNR is under a federal mandate to provide disabled parking for Lawlor ASAP. When the developers looked at the mid-campus area (which was all they had been hired to cover), they decided we were the best spot. People have been appalled when they heard the news, universally as far as we can tell, and have asked who they can contact to complain. I'll include a copy of the list we threw together at the end of this message, if you're interested in expressing your opinions. The decision was made by the Provost in agreement with the President; the Board of Regents was not consulted. As you can tell, I'm not in agreement with the decision. We do some of the most visible and continuous public outreach of any place on campus, and public outreach is supposed to be part of the university's mission. But we're told we're not actually part of that mission. The admin. has also mentioned, when talking to the news media, that the planetarium has been mired in financial difficulties. I have a couple responses to that. From the start, it was known that the planetarium would never be a revenue stream; no planetarium that I know of is. It's a service, partially supported by the university. Moreover, we are 2/3 to 3/4 self-supporting (depending on what you include in the equation), from ticket sales and gift shop income, and that's higher than many university planetariums. Finally, last year, for the first time in several years, we actually were in the black! I don't know what is going to happen. I hope we can delay the closing for a couple years until Science Center is on a sound footing. But the admin. is pretty committted to closing us down. That will be a very unpopular action with the general public, but perhaps the university doesn't mind that. We'll see. Thanks again for writing, and if you have any other questions, fire away! --Keith Johnson Assoc. Director --------- ADMINISTRATION President John Lilley MS 001, Univ. of Nevada Reno NV 89557 Ph: (775) 784-4805 Fax: (775) 784-6429 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Provost John Frederick MS 005, Univ. of Nevada Reno NV 89557 Ph: (775) 784-1740 Fax: (775) 784-6220 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] University Foundation MS 162, Univ. of Nevada Reno NV 89557 Ph: (775) 784-6620 Fax: (775) 784-1394 BOARD OF REGENTS Douglas Seastrand, Chair 6440 Spanish Garden Court Las VBegas NV 89110 Ph: (702) 792-2253 Fax: (702) 452-2275 Thalia M. Dondero, Vice Chair 2931 Pinehurst Las Vegas NV 89109 Ph: (702) 735-8203 Mark Alden Pines Professional Park 3910 Pecos-McLeod Suite C-100 Las Vegas, NV 89121 Phone: (702) 454-4999 Fax: (702) 735-0285 Marcia R. Bandera 962 South Oakmont Drive Spring Creek, NV 89815 Phone: (775) 738-5051 Fax: (775) 738-2036 Jill Talbot Derby, Ph.D. 1298 Kingsbury Grade Gardnerville, NV 89410 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (775) 782-3949 Fax: (775) 782-3830 Douglas Roman Hill 440 Ridge Street, #2 Reno, NV 89501 Phone: (775) 786-1155 Fax: (775) 786-0230 Laura Lopez Hobbs Southwest Gas Corporation P.O. Box 98510 Las Vegas, Nevada 89193 Phone: (702) 364-3512 Linda C. Howard 6720 Laronda Lane Las Vegas, NV 89156 Phone: (702) 459-0107 Fax: (702) 459-0557 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thomas E. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. 4295 West Maule Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89118 Phone: (702) 361-4894 Fax: (702) 260-8704 Howard Rosenberg University of Nevada, Reno Art Department, MS 224 Reno, NV 89557 Phone: (775) 784-6836 Fax: (775) 825-1399 Steve Sisolak 2959 Industrial Road Las Vegas, NV 89109 Phone: (702) 369-5703 Fax: (702) 369-4655 PRINT MEDIA Reno Gazette-Journal Letters to the Editor P.O. Box 22000 Reno NV 89520 Sparks Tribune 1002 C Street Sparks NV 89431 ----- End forwarded message ----- -- | Mark C. Ballew | Graduate Student, University of Nevada, Reno | Homepage: http://sublinear.net | RAWUG President: http://rawug.org | UNR GS-ACM Treasurer: http://www.cs.unr.edu/~gsacm _______________________________________________ RLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug
