Category Archives: Museum Block

City of Peoria, Museum Block

“Midwestern optimism”

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Yeah, that’s one name for it. The Bellevue News Democrat has an amusing story about the museum-naming circus. I don’t know how they got them, but they report some of the things people have been writing on their ballots. Among them: “All the names stink,” and “What was your focus group? A group of 5-year-olds?” But the funniest line was this one:

Jim Richerson, president of Peoria’s Lakeview Museum, an existing facility that will become part of the new museum, greets the chorus of boos with Midwestern optimism.

“I consider it a victory,” Richerson said. “The worst thing that could have happened is that we got no response.”

Uh-huh. That, or not getting the money to build it because of the terrible public opinion they’ve created. Optimism, indeed.

Museum Block

If only Peoria’s museum had James Smithson’s bequest

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James Smithson“Museum officials defend names” was the headline on the front page of the paper this morning. Wait until you hear their defense!

Kathleen Woith likes to remind people that the Smithsonian likely meant nothing to people when the name was first adopted.

Today, most people immediately recognize that name as synonymous with one of the world’s most prestigious museums. They’ve forgotten, or perhaps have never known, that it was named after James Smithson, the illegitimate son of a French baronet who never lived in the U.S. but supported its ideals.

And maybe museum officials have forgotten, or perhaps never known, that the reason it was named the Smithsonian Institution was because Smithson founded it with the money from his estate:

In 1826, James Smithson, a British scientist, drew up his last will and testament, naming his nephew as beneficiary. Smithson stipulated that, should the nephew die without heirs (as he would in 1835), the estate should go “to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.”

The estate was worth about $500,000. So, hypothetically, if someone named James Amaze wants to bequeath a half a million to Peoria for a multi-disciplinary museum with the stipulation that it be named the AMAZEum, I will have no quarrel with the name. You know why? Because then it would mean something.

That’s the reason Woith’s analogy doesn’t work. Whether or not people know who James Smithson was, the name nevertheless has intrinsic meaning. It identifies and memorializes the founder. In contrast, the names museum officials have presented are meaningless — not just to the uninformed, but in their very essence.

A more apt analogy would be to liken the naming to the Dada movement, “an early 20th-century international movement in art, literature, music, and film, repudiating and mocking artistic and social conventions and emphasizing the illogical and absurd.” (NOAD) In keeping with this philosophy, the name of the movement (Dada) was chosen randomly from a French dictionary.

Furthermore, Woith’s analogy, it seems to me, would bolster arguments to put Peoria in the name. Here was Smithson — an outcast because of his illegitimate birth in 19th century England — whose name is now revered because of this fine institution in Washington. Surely the name Peoria — whose only sin was that it didn’t “test well” in focus groups — can undergo a similar transformation if the museum is really going to be as unique and prestigious as museum officials claim.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

A review of some regional museums

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Here are some interesting observations from other museums of the midwest:

  • Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal — Cincinnati’s old train station, Union Terminal, is now the home of three museums (Cincinnati History Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science, and Cinergy Children’s Museum), an Omnimax Theater, and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. At first blush, this sounds very similar to what Peoria is planning, but there are a couple of differences. First, notice that the name “Cincinnati” plays prominently in the naming, even though it also covers the surrounding area. Secondly, “Union Terminal takes up an area of 287 acres” for its five distinct wings; Peoria’s museum square takes up an area of about 6.5 acres for its seven distinct wings, Caterpillar Visitor Center, and 4 acres of open space.
  • Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum — This reference/research facility and Presidential museum opened in 2004. It doesn’t mention Springfield in the name, but it does have a narrower scope than Peoria’s planned musuem. “The permanent exhibit is comprised of two ‘Journeys,’ two Theaters, a Treasures Gallery, Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic and Ask Mr. Lincoln totaling more than 40,000 sq. ft. of state-of-the-art exhibitry.” All of that 40,000 square feet is devoted to President Lincoln, and in addition to that space the library boasts “more than 12 million documents, books, and artifacts relating to all areas of Illinois history. This includes extensive collections of State of Illinois history; Civil War and, of course, the world renowned Henry Horner Lincoln collection. The Library is also heavily utilized for genealogical research.” Peoria, on the other hand, is planning to have about 70,000 square feet of exhibit space devoted to art, history, natural history, science and technology, African American history, IHSA, and other exhibits covering the whole region. Very little space, if any, is devoted to research or library services. In fact, the Peoria Public Library wasn’t even asked to have any part in the project.
  • The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis — Guess where this museum is located. That’s right, Indianapolis. Guess what kind of museum it is. Yep, a children’s museum. See how easy it is to figure out when the name is so descriptive? This museum is 433,500 square feet situated on 14 acres of land. It “houses 11 major galleries that explore the physical and natural sciences, history, world cultures and the arts.” That’s a little over 39,000 square feet (on average) for each gallery. It also opened in 1925 in a carriage house and didn’t get a new, dedicated building until 1976, after its success was established. Its new building is also four stories high. An 80,000-square-foot addition was built in 1988 at a cost of $16 million. In 2006 dollars (according to the CPI calculator from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis), that comes out to just under $27.4 million. In contrast, the 70,000-square-foot facility Peoria is building will cost $65 million to construct.

When you start comparing, you start wondering how Peoria can do an adequate job of exhibiting so many different disciplines with so little space. Either there’s just not that much interesting art/history/etc. in Peoria (or regionally, if you will), or else our $65 million museum will be insufficient to house it all from the outset. I fear the latter is true.

Museum Block

Museum should allow “write-in” votes

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To follow up my earlier post, remember when they wanted to rename the Peoria Chiefs? They had all kinds of ridiculous-sounding names, and everyone wrote in “Chiefs.” Guess what? They stuck with “Chiefs.” I wish we could do that with the Peoria museum. As a recent commenter pointed out, that’s what everyone is going to call it anyway — why not formalize it?

I have some other ideas for write-in votes, too. Remember, this is all in fun, okay? My intentions are not nearly as mean-spirited as the names may sound:

  • CATastrophe Museum
  • SNOOZEum
  • Midwest Ambiguous Museum of Miscellany
  • Museum on the Old Sears Block

Incidentally, I’ve noticed on the “Name the Museum” website that they don’t use radio buttons — the kind that allow you to choose only one item in a list — but rather the little checkboxes so you can choose as many options as you like. Interesting choice of coding; I’ll have to assume it was intentional, but I don’t know why. Until they add a “Peoria Museum” or at least a “None of the Above” choice, I’m not voting.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

“Peoria” not a museum name choice

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WMBD 1470 has the scoop on proposed names for the new museum. Here they are:

  • ExploraSphere Museum
  • AMAZeum
  • Port of Exporation Museum
  • Museum on the Square

Noticeably absent: “Peoria” and “history.” These names illustrate my main criticism of the museum. From any of those names, do you know what this museum is supposed to be? What kind of museum it is? What kind of exhibits it has? Every one of them is nondescript.

The museum’s website has this description:

A new museum of art, history, science and achievement is coming to downtown Peoria. Its galleries will be full of fine art and Illinois folk art, Illinois High School achievements and replays, African American histories, plus oral and interactive history exhibits that tell the story of the entire region. There will be an Illinois River Encounter – from the Ice Age to today, a digital planetarium, and a giant screen theatre, all in a beautiful and environmentally cutting-edge new building on Museum Square.

Again, no mention of Peoria, other than its address. Perhaps the ambiguity of the museum is part of what’s hampering fundraising efforts. I have a suggestion regarding fundraising, though: If it’s going to be a place that “tell[s] the story of the entire region,” then they should ask for donations from the “entire region,” whatever that is, instead of just Peorians, who apparently aren’t worth mentioning in the museum’s name or description.

You can vote for your favorite name at www.namethemuseum.org.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

Grieves: Peoria’s future teeters on Museum Square

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Former Peoria resident and mayor Bud Grieves has this dire warning for Peorians in his letter to the editor of the Journal Star yesterday:

If we fail to attract an increasingly mobile and demanding work force, our fine hospitals, Caterpillar and others will look for greener pastures, and Peoria will wither and die.

Now just reading that quote, wouldn’t you think he would talk about the importance of cracking down on crime, enhancing the school district, improving regional alliances, strengthening the city core, or something really important like that? Me too. But no. According to Grieves, the thing that’s going to bring the “high-quality employees” to Peoria in droves is the new regional museum:

First-class museums rank high on their list and, along with our other recent Downtown developments, create a cohesive and exciting environment.

First of all, he’s assuming facts not in evidence. What evidence exists that this still-going-by-its-supposedly-working-title “Central Illinois Regional Museum” is going to be “first-class”? They can’t even decide what kind of museum it’s supposed to be. Is it an art museum? history museum? natural history museum? science and technology museum? According to their website, it’s incredibly all four, all within about 70,000 square feet. That’s about 17,500 square feet to devote to each of those four types of museum exhibits. This is like one of those restaurants where they serve 23 different types of cuisine and none of them well. Trying to be the übermuseum is a recipe for third-rate, not first-class.

Secondly, the museum designers spurned the Heart of Peoria Plan, even though authentic urban character and historic buildings are also among those things “high on the list” of “high-quality,” creative-class employees. Not only that, the Heart of Peoria Plan was crafted to the specs of Peoria residents; perhaps fundraising would be going easier had the museum designers implemented any of the New Urbanist principles Peorians prefer for downtown redevelopment. Of course, as PeoriaIllinoisan points out, there are lots of projects attempting to improve the “quality of life” here in Peoria right now, and all of them need money.

Finally, I simply don’t believe that the museum project is the lynchpin of Peoria’s future, and trying to get people to donate to it out of fear, as Grieves tries to do, only proves the blindness (and desperation) of its supporters, not its critics.

City of Peoria, Museum Block

Regional Museum can’t be everything

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In today’s Journal Star, former editor Barbara Mantz Drake profiles the Science Center of Iowa (Des Moines). She’s getting ideas for what should be included in the new Central Illinois Regional Museum here in Peoria. Along with the article is a sidebar titled, “Iowa Science Center has parallels for Peoria.”

Several things are similar between the two museums: size, exterior glass, planetarium and weather studio, cost to build, etc. But a couple things are much different: the annual operating budget in Des Moines ($7.8 million) is “nearly twice what is projected for Peoria”; and whereas Des Moines’ museum is limited in scope to science, Peoria’s museum square “will be a place for people of all ages to explore art, history, nature, science, technology, culture, high school sports and the Caterpillar story.”

So Peoria’s museum will have six times the scope and half the budget. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Also, how in the world is Peoria’s museum going to cover all of those subjects (art, history, technology, etc.) in the space Des Moines devotes to science alone?

Usually, museums limit their scope (they’re a history museum, or an art gallery, or a sci-tech musuem, etc.) because the type of museum affects a number of factors: how much storage is needed? what kind of storage conditions are needed? what kind of laboratory services are needed for restoration/preservation of artifacts/exhibits? what kind of skill/expertise do staff members need (e.g., you would want an archaeologist on staff for a natural history museum, but not for a sci-tech museum)?

Speaking of scope, the working title I understand is still the “Central Illinois Regional Museum.” So, in addition to broadening the subject matter, it appears they’re also broadening the subject area — how much of “central Illinois” is going to be covered by this museum?

When the museum idea was first pitched, it was called a Peoria history museum. How did we get from that to this unwieldy, unfocused museum described in the paper today? And how is a museum with such breadth of subject matter going to be supported by half the operating budget of a single-focused museum of the same size?

City of Peoria, Museum Block, Peoria Journal Star

Luciano is right about museum

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In a move sure to make his bosses unhappy, Phil Luciano wrote a scathing column criticizing the city’s plans for a new downtown museum. He doesn’t think it will be much of a draw:

Think of it this way: Peoria is about the same size as Allentown, Pa.; Evansville, Ind.; and Waterbury, Conn. Would you pack up the kids, gas up the van and head to any of those places to drink in their rich history?

I think Phil makes a good point. But I don’t think having a downtown museum is the problem per se — it’s the scale of the project. Why is the whole Sears block going to be devoted to the museum? Isn’t that putting all our eggs in one basket? What happens if the city’s tourism projections don’t pan out? Aren’t we left with a multi-million dollar millstone?

This is why, as I’ve argued before, it would be better to make the museum square more densely developed, as all our handsomely-paid consultants have been telling the city for years. Add retail, restaurants, and especially a residential component. By including private development on that block, the city collects property and sales tax revenues to offset the costs of maintaining and managing a museum on part of that parcel.

Plus, if people are living, shopping, and eating down there, the block will be buzzing around the clock throughout the week and weekends. Without those components, the block after 5:00 and on weekends will look exactly as it does now before a single brick has been laid: a black hole.

In short, I think there is enough interest in Peoria and its history to support a museum, but not a “museum square.” Scale it back and allow private development.

Caterpillar, City of Peoria, Museum Block, Parking

Cat Logic: If we have too much, then we need more

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In today’s installment of “Cat Logic,” we turn to Steve Tarter’s column in today’s business section of the Journal Star titled, “Destination Downtown.” I was unable to find it on the web for linking purposes, but here’s the gist of it:

Caterpillar Inc. hired Walker Parking Consultants (wow, a whole company dedicated to parking consulting — what a fascinating job that must be) to look at “a 13-block Downtown area that includes the former Sears block site for Caterpillar’s visitors center.”

Their findings? There’s a surplus of parking, and it’s anticipated that there will be a surplus of parking in the future:

In an area along the river bounded by Adams, Fayette and Harrison streets, consultants determined there were 5,011 parking spaces available with the highest use coming on a weekday morning when 64 percent of the spots were occupied. The lowest use came on a Saturday morning when only 15 percent of available parking was used.

Now, how would you, Average Joe, interpret those findings? If it were me (and I’m no high-paid executive or parking consultant), I would say we don’t need any additional parking created downtown. If, at the very busiest time of day less than 2/3 of the parking is being used, I’d say — we’ve got this problem licked. We’ve reached a saturation point; no more parking needed. Done.

What does Cat say?

Despite the finding, Caterpillar is looking for more parking at the location. “There’s a great deal of unused parking in that (Downtown) site. But Museum Square will depend on convenient parking of those visitors,” said Mark Johnson, Caterpillar’s project manager; referring to an underground parking garage that will add $3 million to the project cost while providing space for 189 cars.

Huh? Now, think about this a second. At the busiest time of any given week, not more than 64% of 5,011 spaces are being used. That means there are at least 1,804 spaces available within a 10-block area downtown at any given time. But Cat believes that the this site’s success will “depend on” having 189 more spaces (at about $15,873 per parking space) immediately on site. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say a Six Sigma black belt hasn’t been working on this project.

Incidentally, note the central location of Museum Square in the study area:

Downtown Parking Study Area

All the parking in the 10-block area — between 1,804 and 4,259 empty spaces at any given time — is within two blocks of Museum Square. In fact, the majority of it is within one block.  But according to Cat, that’s not good enough.

This is a colossal waste of money on top of an already flawed design for the Sears block. The Heart of Peoria Commission, which has been saying all along that we don’t need more parking downtown, has been vindicated by Cat’s own independent consultant’s study. But it doesn’t matter. Cat will continue on their present course, undeterred by the facts.

City of Peoria, Heart of Peoria Plan, Museum Block, Peoria Mayor

Circle the Square

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I just love irony.

A mere four years ago, the city, then led by former mayor Dave Ransburg, brought in Andres Duany to come with a plan to revitalize the Heart of Peoria. Duany’s company, DPZ, came to town and got a lot of public input through the charrette process. What did the public want? Something like this:

Duany museum

Urban density. 24-hour activity. Residential component. New Urbanism. The Heart of Peoria Plan.

What did they get? Here’s the approved site plan:

Museum Square

Not dense. 9-5 activity. No residential component. Suburban. Antithetical to the Heart of Peoria Plan.

The irony part? They want us to help pay for it now.

Mayor Jim Ardis and seven former mayors pledged Monday to use their collective star power to help raise at least $16 million for the new regional museum over the next year…. “This isn’t for a group of mayors who have sort of done their thing; it’s for you,” said former Mayor Jim Maloof…. “The single most important project I see, along with the Civic Center (expansion), is this museum,” [former mayor Bud] Grieves said. “Whether you can give $5, $500 or $500,000, everybody ought to step up to the plate.” (Source: Journal Star)

The Mayor’s Circle will be out and about speaking to individuals, community groups and civic organizations gathering grassroots support for Museum Square. (Source: 1470 WMBD)

Pardon my frank language, but that takes a lot of balls. First they design something that’s almost the exact opposite of what residents want, then are shocked — shocked, I say! — to find that the money isn’t rolling in. What to do? Redesign? Listen to residents? Nah! “Let’s try to gather grassroots support for our design! Clearly the problem is that residents can’t see the wisdom of our plan.”

Not to mention the fact that one reason the cost of construction is so high is due to the unwarranted and expensive underground parking deck they want to build — against the recommendation of the Heart of Peoria Commission.

“It’s for you,” Maloof says. With all due respect, if it were for us, it would look like the Heart of Peoria Plan, not the Cat Visitor Center Plan. I’ll save my money, thanks. We’ll all be supporting this boondoggle through our property taxes soon enough.

UPDATE (6/27/06 8:44pm):  PeoriaIllinoisan has also written an excellent post on this issue.