Thanks a ton, Mark. My family and I went to a show there today. We saw the current "Backyard Stargazing" and "Africa: The Serengeti" feature set. Shows like that are worth their weight in gold, to say nothing of the ongoing outreach provided by the Planetarium.
I encourage anyone with similar feelings or interests to make some noise with those we have contact info for. I will be getting some signatures from folks in Carson City to accompany a letter of disapproval. I would like to include some positive suggestions for compromise to those in power, but I have a pretty limited imagination in that respect. Maybe a few of us can put our heads together and bring alternatives to their attention? I don't know what else to do. Best to all, -Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark C Ballew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 12:00 PM Subject: [RLUG] [[EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: RN&R Article] > 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 _______________________________________________ RLUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.rlug.org/mailman/listinfo/rlug
