Arizona centennial shame

The Arizona Centennial 2012 Foundation / Commission is putting up billboards promoting the centennial and featuring their logo. The billboards also state: DAZZELING, History still in the making. Unfortunately, it would be more accurate for the billboards to simply state; DESTROYING History.

Their “number one signature project” or “centerpiece project” as it has been called at various times completely displaces the top rated had historic Arizona mining and Mineral Museum. They are actually destroying a world recognized centerpiece of Arizona history for the centennial.

Madness.

This “signature project” is a bizarre museum in search of a theme.  It was first promoted as the 5Cs Arizona Centennial Museum. When it became painfully apparent that it could not possibly be open for the centennial, and that 4 of the 5 Cs wanted no part of it, it became described as 5C museum enhanced with other Arizona industries. Then, in a recent KAET interview, it was recently promoted as a history museum imagining the future. Now, the following has appeared on www.arizona100.org:

We are proud to introduce this plan for a new facility in downtown Phoenix that celebrates the Arizona Centennial in 2012. Someone once said, “It takes a thousand voices to tell one story,” and nothing could be truer about Arizona. Together, many stories make up the past, present, and future of the state.

The Arizona Experience interprets that thread through the eyes and words of the people who shaped it and those who are writing its next chapter. It is about frontiers—from the unsettled West to the mysteries of the human genome to the far reaches of outer space. And it is about the innovative spirit they bring to every endeavor, from art and agriculture to technology and sport. Through compelling storytelling, immersive environments, and fun interactives, The Arizona Experience will challenge, engage, and deepen visitors’ understanding of the Grand Canyon State.

Someone in the Centennial Foundation / Commission (or perhaps the Arizona Historical Society, administrator for this new “museum”) has apparently been chewing on or smoking some happy weed.