9/11 Museum to charge $20-25 for admission

[Formaldehyde]

I seriously doubt the museum has to pay any taxes to the city or lease the land.

Some question 9/11 Memorial's $60M annual cost

(AP) NEW YORK - A debate over balancing the need to honor the memory of Sept. 11 with the enormous costs of running a memorial and museum at ground zero has been reawakened on the eve of the attacks' 11th anniversary, as officials faced questions Monday over the project's expected $60 million-a-year operating budget and an agreement paving the way for the museum's completion was reached.

The number comes on top of the $700 million construction cost of the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. A report Sunday by The Associated Press noted that $12 million a year would be spent on security, more than the entire operating budgets of Gettysburg National Military Park and the monument that includes the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who leads the board of the nonprofit foundation that controls the museum and memorial, on Monday called the memorial's operating cost a necessity for security and other costs unique to hosting millions of visitors a year on the reborn site of two terror attacks, in 1993 and 2001.

Some congressional Democrats underscored their efforts to help get federal money to cover some of the operating cost, while a Republican senator reiterated his opposition. Even some victims' family members are divided over whether the annual price tag represents the price of paying tribute to the nearly 3,000 lives lost or the cost of unnecessary grandeur.

So far, the foundation has been able to rely on corporate and individual donations and selling memorabilia. The annual expense was about $27.8 million last year, including four months of operating the memorial plaza, according to recently audited financial statements.

But the expense is projected to jump to $60 million after the museum opens. The foundation plans to spend around $12 million a year on private security; operating the waterfalls costs another $4.5 million to $5 million annually, the foundation says.

Foundation officials haven't responded to requests for information about other costs at the site.

"Nobody is taking the money and building a hunting lodge for the trustees or having caviar and Champagne every night," Bloomberg said when asked about the operating expenses after an unrelated news conference. "It's a lot of money, but it costs that. Do you want a real budget, or do you want us to lie?"

He said the costs could be covered by donations, by admission tickets to the museum - the price has not been set, but the memorial president has suggested it could be up to $20 - and from federal aid. A proposal for up to $20 million a year in federal money has, so far, hit roadblocks.

Senate sponsors Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat, and New York Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer said through their offices Monday that they continued to press for the money.

"This is hallowed ground, and it deserves to be treated like other national monuments," Schumer said in an emailed statement.

Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, has been blocking the measure. And he's not relenting, spokesman John Hart said Monday.

"He believes it is wrong to pay for this by borrowing $200 million from future generations and foreign governments when the federal government is rife with waste and duplication," Hart said.

The Sept. 11 memorial would be more costly to run than some of the other places where the nation remembers its dead - Arlington National Cemetery, which receives 4 million visitors a year, costs $45 million annually, and Gettysburg National Military Park $8.4 million.

But the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has an $81.2 million budget for this year, about $51 million of it expected in federal money and the rest from private donations and investment income. It has averaged about 1.8 million visitors annually over its 19 years.

Some Sept. 11 victims' family members are, critical of the project's budget. To Jim Riches, a retired fire chief who lost his firefighter son at the trade center, the memorial and museum's projected operating expenses reflect an overblown project that he feels is more tourist attraction than tribute.

"We just want a simple memorial. They want to make this the Metropolitan Museum," he said Monday.

 

[Cheetah]

For a governmental taking, reasonable compensation is based upon the best use the property could be put to. For downtown Manhattan, that's a skyscraper. Or two in this case. So property costs do matter, a lot.

If I understand correctly, the public is overwhelmingly in favour of creating a memorial on the site. If so, a memorial is in fact the best use of the property.

I added the compensation bit because I realise it would be terribly unreasonable to just take the property away from the landowners, but I'd still argue that the owners would still only receive a fraction of the market value for the properties. If I can assume that the public opinion is more or less unanimous on wanting a memorial there in the first place, then the owners are already barred from building anything else there and the property has in practice been commercially worthless since the towers fell.

But with what Formy posted, I might have to reconsider my position:

How do you guys manage to spend $45 millions a year on Arlington?? Maybe $60 millions isn't so spectacular, after all?

 

[BvBPL]

If I understand correctly, the public is overwhelmingly in favour of creating a memorial on the site. If so, a memorial is in fact the best use of the property.

Just an FYI: It is unconstitutional for an American government to take property from a landowner without compensation. Such compensation has been determined to be based upon the best possible use for the land, rather than the current use or based on a token value. In many circumstances, gov'ts need to pay more than the land is worth in order to take it.

I seriously doubt the museum has to pay any taxes to the city or lease the land.

I was previously unaware of the ownership of the land. I did some digging and found that the land was and is owned by the NY Port Authority. In addition, the museum is a non-profit that (I think) is tax exempt.

 

[Formaldehyde]

How do you guys manage to spend $45 millions a year on Arlington?? Maybe $60 millions isn't so spectacular, after all?

That is somewhat baffling, especially since the budget for operation and maintenance was apparently $17.8M in 2007. But that doesn't include $1.4M in administration costs.

 

[Bamspeedy]

That is somewhat baffling, especially since it was apparently $26.5M in 2007.

And then the mismanagement scandal of 2010 happened, so they increased the number of staff by 50 percent and bought more up to date equipment.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I actually quoted the wrong figure initially. See my edit above. The difference is the construction project to add more graves.

 

[dido]

They have a museum for that?

May be they should build some museum in OKC and Waco as well.

 

[Quintillus]

$60 million does seem pretty high for operating costs. At least, assuming it's going to be a relatively modestly sized museum, which it appears to be in the pictures. $4-$5 million for fountains alone sounds expensive... I know they can't be free to operate, but that still seems like a lot for fountains. $12 million for security... that's 120 people at $100K per year (incl. benefits and supplies), which also seems like a high amount if the picture is accurate for the size of the museum. And that still leaves $43 million for other stuff.

I think if the point is to make a memorial, the government (whether of NYC or the federal) ought to simply buy the land and supply it for the memorial, and not have land payments be part of the cost of admission. That's generally how things work at the major federal museums/monuments in D.C. (Smithsonian, Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial, U.S. National Gallery).

Regardless, I can't see myself visiting it even if it were free. It seems like the sort of thing where a memorial is much more appropriate than a museum.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I think €20 is not unreasonable for a museum, though €15 would be more around what I would expect to pay for a museum. Empire State Building is $25, just for the record.

$340k a year is quite a lot. It is not unreasonable for a company of this size, but one would hope people to not demand the highest pay if they are working for a non-profit.

Museums in the United States are traditionally free, with the exception of art exhibits (though some, like the National Gallery in Washington, are free) and some private tourist traps. But monuments especially are free of charge.

 

[Perfection]

$340k of that $60 million goes to Joseph Daniels, President and CEO of the Museum.

How does that compare to the salaries of other large charitable organisations?

 

[Formaldehyde]

How many charitable organizations need a president that isn't just a figurehead, which is what the CEO of this museum is?

 

[Bamspeedy]

How does that compare to the salaries of other large charitable organisations?

American Red Cross 500 k
Habitat for humanity 250 k

There are half a dozen or so non profits that pay over 1 mil (typically hospitals)

Edit oops, k not mil

 

[BvBPL]

MOMA: Director Rcv’d $1.6 million in total compensation for 2011.
Met Museum of Art: Direct rcvd in 2010 $653,402 in salary, additional compensation of $389,051 for about $1.04 million.
American Natural History Museum: $700k
Getty: $690k
Whitney: $675k.
Smithsonian: ~$551k
Boston Museum of Fine Arts: $611k for 2012.
Guggenheim: ~$600k.
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art: $355k
Mass MoCA: Between $210k & $275k

 

[Perfection]

American Red Cross 500 mil
Habitat for humanity 250 mil

I'm asking for CEO salary not total budget.

 

[Bamspeedy]

I'm asking for CEO salary not total budget.

See my edit, I need to sleep.

 

[Perfection]

American Red Cross 500 k
Habitat for humanity 250 k

There are half a dozen or so non profits that pay over 1 mil (typically hospitals)

Edit oops, k not mil

MOMA: Director Rcv’d $1.6 million in total compensation for 2011.
Met Museum of Art: Direct rcvd in 2010 $653,402 in salary, additional compensation of $389,051 for about $1.04 million.
American Natural History Museum: $700k
Getty: $690k
Whitney: $675k.
Smithsonian: ~$551k
Boston Museum of Fine Arts: $611k for 2012.
Guggenheim: ~$600k.
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art: $355k
Mass MoCA: Between $210k & $275k

So yeah this guy's salary doesn't then seem out of line.

 

[BvBPL]

Those museums are well established internationally renowned ones. They aren't comparable to the 9/11 one.

 

[Patroklos]

This museum is simply a bloated boondoggle. It's just a sign of the times that we can't restrain ourselves when feelings and national pride and political correctness are on the line. Can you imagine being the lawmaker that tells the victim's families that the memorial is out of control? Cruxifiction comes to mind.

I look at things like the Vietnam War memorial in comparison to this, and the Korean War memorial in comparison to that, and the scale of our hubris and self obcession becomes shockingly focused.

 

[warpus]

the $700 million construction cost of the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum

Whaaaaa....

Isn't it just 2 reflective pools, a park, and a small building?

 

[dutchfire]

Museums in the United States are traditionally free, with the exception of art exhibits (though some, like the National Gallery in Washington, are free) and some private tourist traps. But monuments especially are free of charge.

Statue of Liberty isn't free, IIRC.