Open letter to mayor and council,
Being that you are asking for suggestions on how to reuse the old Minoru aquatic building, here‘s mine.
The Richmond Museum staff work so hard to keep our heritage alive in exhibits, however, they are limited in their small space. We need a larger space and separate museum.
Over the past years, new locations for the museum have been suggested, but that‘s as far as council and city staff have got — until the idea and implimentation of the Olympic Museum came to be. But that is not a museum about the community‘s history.
My suggestion is to use the original seniors and aquatic centre, for the museum.
A large portion of what the museum has in its collection is in storage and can never be displayed due to the present size of the museum. This is a tragedy in that the community‘s history cannot be told to a full extent. Books and pictures are one thing, but a three-dimensional exhibit is another.
This is why the Britannia Heritage Shipyard, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, London Farm and the Steveston Museum are all success stories.
The museum staff work so hard to create the best exhibits they can, but they need more support from council and staff. The then-vacated museum space, could be turned over to the archives.
Gordon Kibble
RICHMOND
