Jason Midyette Wrote:
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> Not to belabor the point, but the issue at present
> appears to be one of priorities as opposed to
> funding. A museum that can build the people
> shelter seen in the attached photo and has been on
> an equipment purchasing binge recently( two White
> Pass passenger cars, two standard gauge passenger
> cars and a standard gauge outfit car) as well as a
> track and general construction binge is quite
> clearly not lacking money.
>
> The CRRM is capable of doing excellent restoration
> work, if it is a priority. Right now it does not
> appear to be so. All available resources are being
> put into, and only into, projects that enhance the
> carrying capacity of the special events train.
> Your ideas are good, but the sad fact is that
> right now if you walked in with a stack of cash
> and gave it to the museum, it would only be used
> towards projects that enhanced the current goal of
> increasing attendance at special events in order
> to meet the next tier of SCFD funding. Even if you
> specified that the money be used on a specific car
> and that car only, nothing would happen in the
> forseeable future as all staff time, volunteer
> time and round house space are committed to the
> special event train projects.
>
> Unless the Museum leadership chooses to set new
> priorities (or revert to the ones of a few years
> ago), all the money in the world will not change
> what is going on.
>
> Jason Midyette
>
Jason, you also have to consider that things like pavilions will bring out visitors that may not have heard of your museum and may indeed become a working member because they found out about you going to an event your museum hosted. Orange Empire R/R Museum in So. Calif. gets a spike in membership every year because of Day out With Thomas visitors. (One lady asked me "how long we had been there BEFORE Thomas?") She almost fell over when I told her over 50 years, So don't sell reaching out to the masses short as it brings in a crowd that would have never darkened your doorway otherwise.
Things are hardly ever black and white.
