tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post6218600965132602981..comments2024-02-24T18:30:26.749-07:00Comments on prairiemary: MOVE THE MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO BUTTE??Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post-40759376526680426572010-03-16T07:51:02.569-06:002010-03-16T07:51:02.569-06:00My comments to the IR;
"Sure wish people wou...My comments to the IR;<br /><br />"Sure wish people would be a little realistic. There's no money right now to do much of anything. That ship has sailed already.<br /><br />The university system is undergoing cutbacks and people want to build a new museum. Makes absolutely no sense.<br /><br />Back when the economy was good, there was a window to do it. The window is shut. I guess they could have built something at the mall. They could have asked all the multimillion dollar chains along the mall site, like McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Safeway, etc., who would have benefited by that location and increased visitor traffic. But the economy has tanked.<br /><br />The realistic thing is to look at the problem and do what you can for now with the resources we have.<br />Group Montana's individual museums together, the way the universities, colleges, and vo-tech's were grouped, the way the Smithsonian is grouped, and allocate the collections and money amongst all the communities. Have a truly Montana Museum System with speciality museums in various communities.<br /><br />Put the mining history collection in Butte's World Museum of mining and upgrade the physical plant and interpretation. Put the natural history collection with Bozeman's Museum, put the art collection (Poindexter) at Missoula, put the Native American collections at the Museum of the Plains Indian, put the cowboy collection in Billings, etc. That should resolve the "we have too much to display here" problem. And hookup with the existing "living history" operations too, like the ranch near east Helena.<br /><br />Then Helena can keep the displays that still are crowd-pleasers (the main one in there right now that is an overview of Montana history), and bring back the displays that the oldtimers and visitors always wish we still had: Territory Junction (the old town in the basement), and the dioramas done by artists showing lifestyles of the past (the only one left is the buffalo jump).<br /><br />Partnering and wise allocation of existing resources is the way to go right now in this economic climate. Not another boondoggle that digs our graves even deeper. If things get better, THEN we can re-visit it. But use the money to fix the water and environmental problems it was MEANT to fix."<br /><br />There is no money. Montana is lagging in its economics behind the rest of the nation, as it always does, but- there is no money. The Mall idea tanked because they couldn't raise the money. Now as of today the Helena boosters have a reprieve from moving it to Butte (http://www.helenair.com/news/article_2bf3669a-30b5-11df-9d00-001cc4c03286.html)-- all dependent on their raising 30 million in private funds.<br /><br />What?? The Capital Hill Mall idea tanked because they couldn't raise the millions in private money, and now they can stay where they are IF they raise the millions in private money. Not just a couple of miion, but 30 million. In THIS economic climate. You see the disconnect? Yeah, keep banging that head against a brick wall.<br /><br />I had applied for Simms' job when it was open, but didn't even get an interview, even though I had served as a manager in a cultural organization serving 400,000 people and with an annual budget of 2.5 million.<br /><br />The system is broken. All the buffalo have been shot by hidehunters and their bones ground up for fertilizer. The only hope is to radically reconfigure the museum system in Montana, the way the Montana University system was reconfigured.Lance M. Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17404310713482611952noreply@blogger.com