The Senate Rural Affairs and Environment committee passed SB1200 today. If the bill becomes law, it will restore the mineral museum by transferring all museum assets from the Arizona Historical Society to the Arizona Geological Survey. Senator Sylvia Allen is the committee chairman and Senator Gail Griffin (co-chairman) is the bills sponsor. Other committee members are Senators Don Shooter, Andrea Dalessandro, and Barbara McGuire. The vote was unanimous.
To express support for the bill, Arizona residents can find contact information for their state senators and representatives at
www.az.gov
Reference:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/02/17/senate-committee-passes-bill-reopening-mining-museum/23561881/
How could any State of Arizona Agency Director survive something like this? Much less a museum director where public trust is paramount. Who would want to donate artifacts or funds to such an agency.
ReplyDeleteI have followed the sad destruction of our very well-respected Mining and Mineral Museum on this blog. The good news is that the legislature is in the process of corrective action to give this treasure back to AZ citizens,and especially our children. How wonderful! The excuse by AHS, the former Governor, and the Centennial Foundation that the recession caused the failure of their plan is ridiculous. The recession was well under way when they acted on a plan before they raised enough money to even start. Enough said!!
ReplyDeleteThe decision to bring the Mining and Mineral Museum back and under the Arizona Geological Survey is excellent. It will take time and much effort, but the commitment and energy of the former staff and supporters, coupled with the very scientifically respected AGS, will produce the needed results. Then we can move from Mineral Museum Madness to Mineral Museum Gladness!
All of mess boils down to a few basic points. Dr. Ann Woosley never leaves her office. Therefore she cannot raise funds nor raise the awareness of the AHS into the community, either locally or statewide. When the State leaned on AHS to raise more money to pay for it's operation she was at a loss to do anything. Hence the attempt to open a "Centennial" Museum. And it's three other museum concepts. Now the AHS is stuck with an empty building.
ReplyDeleteThere was no way in Hades that the AHS could ever raise the $15,000,000 to open something like that. Maybe it was an attempt to line the pockets of the exhibit design firm she wanted to hire. Who knows?
Woosley never has reached out to community. I would ask the Governor to have her name all of the public relations related appearances she has conducted since she has been director. (that's called being on TV or interviewed for a newspaper article). Or how many historical lectures she has performed? And on what topics?
The other problem the AHS has is it's own Board of Directors.. They have no clue as to what they are supposed to do. Woosley drags them into the Rio Nuevo Boondoggle. (at $1,400,000 spent on plans for a museum that would never be built) $230,000,000 was wasted of State taxpayers money for that mess.
Or she dragged the Board into the "Centennial Museum" Boondoggle. Do these people even meet and discuss these plans? I don't think so. I don't think they even think!
Well they can think about this. The Legislature will soon vote them out of existence. But nobody will even care.
ReplyDeleteI viewed the hearing on SB1200 held last Tuesday and was heartened to see a 5-0 vote to restore the Mining and Mineral Museum. Finally, the unending embarrassment of the Historical Society celebrating our centennial by closing our historic Mining and Mineral Museum is being undone. The AHS lobbyist made no effort to stop the legislation, but he said that the MMM was given to them because they are known for excellence in managing museums.You have got to be kidding! The MMM was always listed as one of the top Phoenix or AZ museums--no AHS museum was! I'm sure the staff and volunteers who endured the AHS management that destroyed the MMM were not very impressed. His further observation that putting the MMM under the Geological Survey might not work because they have never run a museum is a joke. Read the Sunset Reviews of AHS (failures) and then of AGS (very positive reviews). No wonder the supporters of the MMM like the proposed move to AGS. This does not have to be a death knell for AHS, but it should be a wake-up call.
Replace the AHS Board with people who actually know how to be Board members. That means watching what the Director is doing and raise awareness and MONEY.
DeleteAlso make sure the director does not try to destroy another museum to cover her own failings as a fund raiser.
Gosh....that's what a director is supposed to do.
But that means leaving her office. And not to just walk to the parking lot to go home.
Same goes to Mr. Ponder.
Certainly major personnel changes must happen if AHS is going to recover from their poor reviews and lack of ability to come up with a workable plan and actually raise the money to implement it. The latest plans for the old MMM building are amazing. Now AHS wants the state (ADA) to redesign the building to their liking, and pay for it of course, and then they will be in a position to raise private funds to operate it. Their track record is so poor that it appears no one at the legislature is buying it. Thank goodness!
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