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News & ArtsSunday, January 25, 2009
Economy / Science Always Be Closing: the Rumors Edition
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Slog tipper James writes:
Pacific Science Center facing bankruptcy in February. Amidst cuts to lower tier staff, executives continue giving themselves raises, funding pet projects, going on trips, and hiring more executives. PSC is 3 million+ in debt and will likely no longer be extended credit. PSC will be forced to close doors in February. Seattle will lose an icon... all because of greed and corruption.
Nobody's in the PSC offices this morning, but a quick Guidestar search doesn't look so bad: Their tax returns in 2007 showed only an $80,000 operating deficit on a $22 million budget. Its directors, however, do make the bucks. CEO Bryce Seidl pulls in $181,000 a year and all five of his vice presidents make around or over $100,000. No sign of the $3 million debt.
Regardless, the Pacific Science Center, like the rest of Seattle Center, is cursed:
Even 1962, the Center's glory year, was a series of embarrassments. The Seattle World's Fair opened 22 minutes late because somebody lost the keys to the front gate. Elvis Presley's celebrity arrival was weirdly quiet—it happened to be the first day of school. On October 22, the Pacific Science Center greeted its first visitor, a disappointed man who'd mistakenly shown up for the Fair the day after it closed.
And remember, those idealistic white arches—the offspring of a Gothic cathedral and a Bucky ball—sprung from the mind of local architect Minoru Yamasaki. They drew the attention of New York planners, who needed a design for their World Trade Center. Yamasaki gave them the Twin Towers.
Would anybody actively miss the Science Center if it closed? Adults get all misty-eyed about it, but nostalgia doesn't pay the bills. Kids love to run around it and scream, but kids love anyplace where they can run around and scream. Seattle deserves a good science center/natural history museum—a better one. Obviously it's a crap time for big projects.
In the short-term, the Science Center should try to woo back the adults, since slashed school budgets will cut extracurriculars and field trips.
PCF should collaborate with SIFF cinema to show grown-up movies in its IMAX theater every evening. Some first-run stuff, the Batmans or whatever, but older movies, too: The Wizard of Oz, Vertigo, Blade Runner. Maybe PCF should get with Town Hall and the UW to host a series of science lectures.
And I've always wished someplace in town would start a math and science cocktail hour: a weekly series of hour-long refresher courses in geometry, biology, physics, and all the other stuff most of us have forgotten. A bar would be ideal (one with an old-wood and chalkboard atmosphere—maybe Oddfellows?), but anyplace with a projection screen and an expeditious bartender would do.
And move the coroner's office to a giant plexiglass box in the middle of the center. Nothing spells revenue like public autopsy!
1
"And I've always wished someplace in town would start a math and science cocktail hour: a weekly series of hour-long refresher courses in geometry, biology, physics, and all the other stuff most of us have forgotten."
That is a really good idea.
That is a really good idea.
4
Maybe PCF should get with Town Hall and the UW to host a series of science lectures.
They used to, I've been to a few. They hosted them in the imax theaters. But now the link I had to their schedule is broken, and I can't find anything about it on their website. This makes me sad. The first place I heard about wormholes was one of their lectures, back in junior high.
They used to, I've been to a few. They hosted them in the imax theaters. But now the link I had to their schedule is broken, and I can't find anything about it on their website. This makes me sad. The first place I heard about wormholes was one of their lectures, back in junior high.
5
Check out David Guterson's new novel, The Other. There's a chase scene that starts with the stony teenage heroes stealing coins from the Pacific Science Center fountain.
7
The PSC is so dated. As a kid I thought it was cool but the past few times I've been there, with a free ticket or something, it has been a joke...like a playground or something.
Maybe it is just a matter or seeing it as a kid versus seeing it as an adult but the science seems so watered down and I think they underestimate how much science people want to, and can, learn.
Maybe it is just a matter or seeing it as a kid versus seeing it as an adult but the science seems so watered down and I think they underestimate how much science people want to, and can, learn.
9
I love the Science Center, and so do my kids. Replacing it with a better one would be great, obviously, but let's not get rid of it just because it could be better.
10
Museums (unless storing valuables) are just obsolete in the internet age. Museums like PSC, Odyssey, even EMP -- dead spaces, for good reason: the internet works about one million times better.
Paying a $$ million in salaries to have managers that "manage" a static visual display of information? WTF?
Delete and reboot.
Paying a $$ million in salaries to have managers that "manage" a static visual display of information? WTF?
Delete and reboot.
12
I am an adult who likes going to the Science Center (the butterfly room is fun, at least), but OMSI is way better.
13
Finally, someone is saying somethig about the Science Center that I agree with. Considering we live in an area where great advances in science and technology are happening every single day it is shameful that our Science Center is as lame as it is. Lame. It's lame.
Their permanent exhibits are old and tired, and the touring exhibits they do never quite seem to hit the mark between the age they appear to be aimed for and the actual content of the exhibit. The touring dinosaur exhibit was a prime example, the materials were way over the heads of littler kids who were just grasping the "wow dinos are cool" meme and for older kids there was not much in the exhibit that had a "wow" factor beyond what they probably already knew about dinosaurs.
And don't get me started on that stupid "speed" exhibit.
I think the people who work there, like the ones who do the science demos, really try hard and I admire their enthusiasm, so this isn't a criticism of them. It's a criticism of the materials they have to work with.
Their permanent exhibits are old and tired, and the touring exhibits they do never quite seem to hit the mark between the age they appear to be aimed for and the actual content of the exhibit. The touring dinosaur exhibit was a prime example, the materials were way over the heads of littler kids who were just grasping the "wow dinos are cool" meme and for older kids there was not much in the exhibit that had a "wow" factor beyond what they probably already knew about dinosaurs.
And don't get me started on that stupid "speed" exhibit.
I think the people who work there, like the ones who do the science demos, really try hard and I admire their enthusiasm, so this isn't a criticism of them. It's a criticism of the materials they have to work with.
14
@ 2: Science on Tap sounds great, but it's mostly lectures on new research, right? I want to be reminded of the science and math I've forgotten from high school and college. A night of statistics, a night of Euclid, a night of chemistry. (And, for the BDSM people, a night of word problems.)
15
The tax returns show some irresponsibility on the part of the PSC board and management. THEY HAVE MINIMAL CASH RESERVES and they haven't had enough for years. Wow. Very bad. The only real asset they have is their building.
17
I like the PCC - that exhibit they had on the history of video games was brilliant and fun, and tied in well with local industry. I wish they were doing more things like that, rather than bringing up those huge national touring things like Lucy and Dead Sea Scrolls. They should've gotten Van Hagens' Bodyworlds too - that Bodies Exhibit a few years ago made lots of money, and it was a cheap knock-off of the real thing.
18
The IMAX theater is cool, and the butterfly exhibit is fun. But otherwise the PSC is hideously outdated and boring as fuck. In the age of the internet, they need a completely different approach.
I saw the Lucy exhibit. It was kinda interesting, but the presentation wasn't all that great and a lot of it felt like it was padded. It has no chance of drawing crowds like the King Tut exhibit did back in 1978. Or even the Bodies exhibit a year or so back.
I saw the Lucy exhibit. It was kinda interesting, but the presentation wasn't all that great and a lot of it felt like it was padded. It has no chance of drawing crowds like the King Tut exhibit did back in 1978. Or even the Bodies exhibit a year or so back.
19
i returned to the psc as an adult recently, 10 yrs after my last visit. they had every single goddamn exhibit from my elementary school days still up, with no new ones. we seattlites talk large about our 'metropolitan city' when portland even has a better science museum than us. vancouver bc has an amazing one. you would think a town that spawned microsoft would make science a bit more appealing... As for the math/science refreshing lectures, i am so there.
20
The whole point of the 1960s World's Fairs was that by now we were supposed to be living inside them, not visiting them.
22
PSC isn't the problem. It's the top heavy staff who aren't innovative. There are some great staff there who are creative and want to try things, BUT upper management (Directors/VPs) always say no.
PSC does this every five years. They invest in a exhibit, pin their hopes on it, and never meet projections. How many antiquities do people want to see? Titanic- Sea Scrolls- Lucy.
Rather than focusing on the old, the past, start thinking of new, the future.
PSC, as it is run, is a relic and their current leaders are incapable of evolving. I always thought should take a giant leap and fire its ED and VPs, and get a new board. The place should be run by the under 45 crowd. They couldn't do worse!
PSC does this every five years. They invest in a exhibit, pin their hopes on it, and never meet projections. How many antiquities do people want to see? Titanic- Sea Scrolls- Lucy.
Rather than focusing on the old, the past, start thinking of new, the future.
PSC, as it is run, is a relic and their current leaders are incapable of evolving. I always thought should take a giant leap and fire its ED and VPs, and get a new board. The place should be run by the under 45 crowd. They couldn't do worse!
23
$181K too much for a CEO of one of the most visited museums[1] in the country?
Providing many of the programs you're asking for[2][3], clearly not giving much research to this post?
Ho hum, next post, please...
1: http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists…
2: http://www.scienceontap.org
3: http://www.pacsci.org/twist/
Providing many of the programs you're asking for[2][3], clearly not giving much research to this post?
Ho hum, next post, please...
1: http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists…
2: http://www.scienceontap.org
3: http://www.pacsci.org/twist/
24
@23 - $181k is too much for someone who is not managing finances effectively. You can find someone who will do a far better job for less $. Performance = compensation in most of the world.
25
If the Pacific Science Center's budget is running $80k in the red every year, the most obvious thing to do would be to drop one of the five $100k a year VPs.
Although, Obama did suggest that it would be altruistic to take a pay cut/hours cut, rather than see a fellow co-worker lose their job and benefits. The CEO should lead by example.
Although, Obama did suggest that it would be altruistic to take a pay cut/hours cut, rather than see a fellow co-worker lose their job and benefits. The CEO should lead by example.
26
@ 23. [1] Popularity isn't quality. PSC is highly visited because it has a monopoly on the obligatory science-museum-visit for the Seattle school district. And clueless tourists who fall through the turnstiles after ascending the Needle.
[2] See comment 14.
[3] Doesn't quite do it, either. That's more like a post-play discussion, which is fine, but isn't what I'm wishing for.
[2] See comment 14.
[3] Doesn't quite do it, either. That's more like a post-play discussion, which is fine, but isn't what I'm wishing for.
27
I've taken my nieces and nephews once or twice, but it's really just a backup event for a rainy day when they come visit, and if we've done everything else. The exhibits are old and stale, and not that interesting to begin with if you're over the age of 9 or 10. It's basically a dumbed-down playground for screaming children.
28
It's an aging dump. Close it and sell it to Microsoft. They at least understand the world of science after 1962.
29
I think many of us would like a newer edgier science center, but I also think that many posters just want to be pissed off at something.
The Science Center is a non-profit, so - like all every other non-profit in America- it has an uphill battle in normal times and is more or less screwed right now. Also, they have a much bigger impact on education in the community and state than their building. They go out to schools all over Washington, have a large teacher training program, have a really cool environmental center on the East side, hold various science camps, and have an entire program to help researchers share their work with the public. As a close but outside observer: yes, they have problems, but they do a ton of good.
Finally, I really doubt many of you would show up, even if you got your way. They play to their base for their bread and butter...not so that they can pretend people would actually pay for an algebra review on any given evening in Seattle.
The Science Center is a non-profit, so - like all every other non-profit in America- it has an uphill battle in normal times and is more or less screwed right now. Also, they have a much bigger impact on education in the community and state than their building. They go out to schools all over Washington, have a large teacher training program, have a really cool environmental center on the East side, hold various science camps, and have an entire program to help researchers share their work with the public. As a close but outside observer: yes, they have problems, but they do a ton of good.
Finally, I really doubt many of you would show up, even if you got your way. They play to their base for their bread and butter...not so that they can pretend people would actually pay for an algebra review on any given evening in Seattle.
31
Science World (sorry, the "Telus World of Science") in Vancouver has adult nights every so often when they open it up and sell beer and wine. Tons of people show up, get drunk and wander around. It's a lot of fun. Science is always more interesting when alcohol is involved.
32
As a former PSC staff memeber I would like to let you know that it is not just the lower tier staff getting the boot, in fact several upper staff lost their jobs as well. The debt came from the amazing exhibits they have brought to Seattle and PSC is home to far more events than you may realize; camps, camp-in, private events, publice events, Science with a Twist, Lasar shows, IMAX, Major exhibits, and general science. Plus there are several programs that staff leave PSC and go to outside venues to produce. So YES it would be sadly missed if it had to close it's doors, so grab your kids, your firends and family an dhead on down.
33
I remember visiting the PSC as a kid during a family vacation, and my parents had to drag me away, I was so fascinated. It was one of the things that triggered my awareness that science was cool. When I moved to Seattle, I worked for there for a summer, and missed out on a full-time position because I wasn't considered an internal hire. I like the Science Center.
But when I came back as an adult, I was somewhat shocked to see all the same exhibits that I remembered as a kid, only they now seemed dirty and tired, and a lot of them were broken. There was frustration from other staff that the budget only allowed for 2 or 3 live science demos a day, and the hands-on cart was only out for limited hours. Overall, there was a sense of a place in a downward spiral. That was back in 2000, and I haven't visited much since then, but I doubt much has changed. It makes me sad.
But when I came back as an adult, I was somewhat shocked to see all the same exhibits that I remembered as a kid, only they now seemed dirty and tired, and a lot of them were broken. There was frustration from other staff that the budget only allowed for 2 or 3 live science demos a day, and the hands-on cart was only out for limited hours. Overall, there was a sense of a place in a downward spiral. That was back in 2000, and I haven't visited much since then, but I doubt much has changed. It makes me sad.
34
The Exporatorium in SF is incredibly more alive than the PSC. PSC needs a radical culture change.
35
We have a 10 foot screen and a 16mm projector. And we already show educational films: http://www.vermillionseattle.com/PR/Camp…
I don't know, someone come by and show me an idea.
-- Diana (Different Diana)
I don't know, someone come by and show me an idea.
-- Diana (Different Diana)
36
Hey people--
PSC is a cosponsor of Town Hall's Seattle Science Lectures series--15-20 talks a year by townies and beyond (Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Michio Kaku, Craig Venter have all spoken in the last coupla years). Also, a number of other orgs host their own lecture series here focussed on science...
Upcoming are Jonah Lehrer, Mario Livio, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Gordon Hempton, plus Cliff Mass and Dave Montgomery from around the way. Oh, and Golob, when he ever returns our calls.
There ends the infomercial...
PSC is a cosponsor of Town Hall's Seattle Science Lectures series--15-20 talks a year by townies and beyond (Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, Brian Greene, Lisa Randall, Michio Kaku, Craig Venter have all spoken in the last coupla years). Also, a number of other orgs host their own lecture series here focussed on science...
Upcoming are Jonah Lehrer, Mario Livio, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Gordon Hempton, plus Cliff Mass and Dave Montgomery from around the way. Oh, and Golob, when he ever returns our calls.
There ends the infomercial...
37
I can see why people would complain about the stuff not changing after so long. But it's not like an amusement park that changes the Country Bear Jamboree that you remember seeing as a kid and turns it into some pre-school Winnie the Pooh Show.
If there were better dinosaurs to show off then maybe they would try to get a better Dino Room. And don't expect the Tots water park to change anytime soon either, or the water works on the ponds, or the simulator ride...the best they've been able to do is get family and PG-13 movies in and good traveling exhibits every season. Every exhibit they've had is a traveling exhibit. It tours the country and it usually has its own website besides the info that the PSC website shows.
I would hope the people at PSC would take suggestions from the public because no one actually owns the NON-profit center and they could use all the advice they can get.
As you may have already seen, the Lucy exhibit has been in the news lately. It's lost the PSC money. But then so did all the snow we got in December. The exhibit ends this March. Maybe the mid-winter break will bring in more people. Maybe the Harry Potter movies and other cult faves will bring in needed revenue to the center. Your guess is as good as mine, but the real decision makers won't be replaced if the new bosses are always the same as the old bosses.
Microsoft is a big money donor, it also gets very discounted ticket prices and sometimes even buys out movie screenings but there's no way they would want a science center. If they really want to help, they could sponsor an exhibit that all the complaining posters here would be sure to go to..and be willing to spend $20 on.
If there were better dinosaurs to show off then maybe they would try to get a better Dino Room. And don't expect the Tots water park to change anytime soon either, or the water works on the ponds, or the simulator ride...the best they've been able to do is get family and PG-13 movies in and good traveling exhibits every season. Every exhibit they've had is a traveling exhibit. It tours the country and it usually has its own website besides the info that the PSC website shows.
I would hope the people at PSC would take suggestions from the public because no one actually owns the NON-profit center and they could use all the advice they can get.
As you may have already seen, the Lucy exhibit has been in the news lately. It's lost the PSC money. But then so did all the snow we got in December. The exhibit ends this March. Maybe the mid-winter break will bring in more people. Maybe the Harry Potter movies and other cult faves will bring in needed revenue to the center. Your guess is as good as mine, but the real decision makers won't be replaced if the new bosses are always the same as the old bosses.
Microsoft is a big money donor, it also gets very discounted ticket prices and sometimes even buys out movie screenings but there's no way they would want a science center. If they really want to help, they could sponsor an exhibit that all the complaining posters here would be sure to go to..and be willing to spend $20 on.
38
I used to work at PSC and have some insight into their financial issues.
1. This year, they got screwed by the Lucy exhibit. That is to say, they got screwed by Seattle Public Schools, who were signed up to come see Lucy and then canceled due to their own budget problems. This was a huge chunk of projected revenue that did not come to fruition.
2. They laid-off most of their exhibit development staff in 2002. That's why there's nothing new.
3. The idiots in charge purchased the land at the corner of 2nd and Denny to build a parking lot back around 1998. They did this when the Sonics were both still in Seattle and a winning team. First, the Sonics started sucking, and then they left town, meaning revenue from their parking lot (in spitting distance of Key Arena) never materialized and they are still paying for the land.
4. Despite being a non-profit, PSC has always operated almost exclusively off of their own revenue. Most donations go towards capital projects (like the IMAX dome). I always got the impression that their Board of Directors were a bunch of tight wads (hence no operating revenue donated from the Directors' day-jobs).
5. PSC is too big. The IMAX dome (their 2nd IMAX theatre ... the old Eames theatre is still there and still operational) and the Butterfly House are two of the best features at PSC, and were both added in the last 10 years or so. Unfortunately, instead of tearing down an old building to make room for them, they expanded the facility. So now, there's an unwieldy ops budget and 7 acres to fill, which just adds to the impression that they have the same old shitty exhibits.
It's sad really, because the lower-level employees are passionate and good at what they do. Working in this environment saps the morale and drives many people away (like me).
More...
1. This year, they got screwed by the Lucy exhibit. That is to say, they got screwed by Seattle Public Schools, who were signed up to come see Lucy and then canceled due to their own budget problems. This was a huge chunk of projected revenue that did not come to fruition.
2. They laid-off most of their exhibit development staff in 2002. That's why there's nothing new.
3. The idiots in charge purchased the land at the corner of 2nd and Denny to build a parking lot back around 1998. They did this when the Sonics were both still in Seattle and a winning team. First, the Sonics started sucking, and then they left town, meaning revenue from their parking lot (in spitting distance of Key Arena) never materialized and they are still paying for the land.
4. Despite being a non-profit, PSC has always operated almost exclusively off of their own revenue. Most donations go towards capital projects (like the IMAX dome). I always got the impression that their Board of Directors were a bunch of tight wads (hence no operating revenue donated from the Directors' day-jobs).
5. PSC is too big. The IMAX dome (their 2nd IMAX theatre ... the old Eames theatre is still there and still operational) and the Butterfly House are two of the best features at PSC, and were both added in the last 10 years or so. Unfortunately, instead of tearing down an old building to make room for them, they expanded the facility. So now, there's an unwieldy ops budget and 7 acres to fill, which just adds to the impression that they have the same old shitty exhibits.
It's sad really, because the lower-level employees are passionate and good at what they do. Working in this environment saps the morale and drives many people away (like me).
39
The Science Center does offer math and science cocktail hour at local bars. Check out http://www.scienceontap.org/index.htm
40
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