The Editor,
Re: "Who said we need 'destination' museum?" Letters, March 29.
First of all, I wish to thank Maria Kwong for her thouhtgful and insightful letter to the editor.
I am in full agreement as I am sure many of Richmond's residents are, thank you. But to put a finer point on it, the bureaucracy never sleeps. Public service, or self serving, that is the question? City staff dream up the wish list and consultants sell it.
My crystal ball says a new manager is waiting in the wings. Will the proposed Olympic Museum be going head-to-head with this city museum, competing for paying customers? Rosy predictions of breaking even on costs have still not materialized from past experiments.
With the track record of the Olympic oval and a city council jumping for joy at museum building, the vote on April 8 was pretty much assured. Only Harold Steves seems to be paying attention to the costs of these monoliths compared to bureaucratic survival and advancement.
David L. Merke Richmond
