Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

[garyjd]

Get to the Visitor's Center before the fee goes up on Monday. ~Gary

http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_12573062

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

Gary,

Thanks for the notice!! I'll be there in a few weeks and know where I won't be spending my $$.

I guess this is what happens when a 'Non-Proffit' Corporation siezes control of a Public Collection, and Public Land...sigh

Looks like it's time for another letter to my State Representatives...

Paul B.

[dusty27]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

I don't get you folks? A "non profit" still has to pay the bills.

The world does not work for free. Expenses at a museum are expensive. I know, I work at a large national museum in the accounting department. To correctly preserve artifacts, whether on display or not, is expensive.

The Smithsonian is "free" to visitors, but they get a large budget from Congress every year (your money), it has endowments and donors that help (big money) and it also has large retail sales. I venture to guess that the visitor's center doesn't have a lot of any of those.

I still need to get up to the new center and will, with the family hopefully, this summer.

Two less designer coffees will get you admitted.....

[garyjd]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

Gary,

Thanks for the notice!! I'll be there in a few weeks and know where I won't be spending my $$.

I guess this is what happens when a 'Non-Proffit' Corporation siezes control of a Public Collection, and Public Land...sigh

Looks like it's time for another letter to my State Representatives...

Paul B.

You got that right. While I understand the need for fees in some cases I have a problem with them being forced on the people here. To me this is a huge red flag that says THEY are still NOT meeting THEIR goals. So the price hike is being implimented because visitors have said the current fee is cheap and $10.50 is reasonable. I think visitors should keep their mouths shut. They're basically saying "hey charge us more to get in". The hike is to also makes sure the Foundation stays on target. What really is the justification for a $3 hike in less than a year? I wonder how many tickets have to be sold just to pay the Foundation President's salary. Non profit my A$$, someone is laughing al the way to the bank. I'm sorry folks, something continues to smell here. ~Gary

[rbruno]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

Mike,
I get that museums have bills to pay and "non-profit" certainly has expenses. I have been to plenty of museums, payed my fee, and enjoyed the displays and artifacts. Maybe it is not fair to compare, but in my opinion, this museum pales in comparison to the former museum. But, again, maybe it is not fair to say, "Well the old museum never charged a fee."

Beyond the fee, this museum has so many mistakes that it is my opinion that it is not worth going for free. I mentioned in another thread that the horse equipment on the Federal cavalry man is terrible. It looks like they went to the cheapest sutler who has horse equipment and said just give me what you got. There are many other mistakes in there that I won't go into.

So, for me it is partly about the museum itself, partly about the fee, partly that now they are raising the fee, and partly that I just like the old one better at this point.

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

I don't get you folks? A "non profit" still has to pay the bills.

The world does not work for free. Expenses at a museum are expensive. I know, I work at a large national museum in the accounting department. To correctly preserve artifacts, whether on display or not, is expensive.

The Smithsonian is "free" to visitors, but they get a large budget from Congress every year (your money), it has endowments and donors that help (big money) and it also has large retail sales. I venture to guess that the visitor's center doesn't have a lot of any of those.

I still need to get up to the new center and will, with the family hopefully, this summer.

Two less designer coffees will get you admitted.....

Dusty,

I do live in the real world...and as such I realize that there are expenses everywhere...and what we call in industry "Scope Changes", which GREATLY impact budget.

What I'm still scratching my head on...Our National Government was able to support (at least moderately so) the most heavily visited Civil War Battlefield under the Old Museum. Now we destroyed more battlefield to build a new, "better", "more proffessional" museum...this was supposed to be free, but the public is currently being billed on average $7.50/head, now fees are going to increase on average to $10.50/head, in order to insure the Foundation makes budget scope...meanwhile, they're hiring more people...that means more FULL-TIME STAFF, that means more Salaries, more Benefits, and more unemployment (yep, it costs you $$ whether you lay people off or not)...that means more Capital Costs...that means more overhead...

As the Monster Grows...and 'helps' to 'ease' the burden on the National Park/Department of the Interior, that means Congress has LESS incentive to appropriate the $$$$ to insure that the Museum and Battlefield grounds are available to the public to enjoy...that means more non-profit staff and more budget...which means a rate increase of $3 this year...could be another $3 next year to keep in line with the "Project Plan"....and thereby continue to snowball.

Oh, and not to mention the mess/controversy the Foundation and current Gettysburg National Military Park Superintendant found themselves in last year and early this year...where the GNMPS had allowed the Foundation to achieve the standing/authority it currently has at this most hallowed spot, and has also thus placed himself in a position to retire this year...and assume the duties of the Foundation President...at a Salary of $400,000/yr...yah, somehow once that made the National Media...he withdrew the plan, due to a "Conflict of Interests"...

So am I adjutated...HELL YES...Why?? Well let's review those articles:

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=816

http://civilwarcavalry.com/?p=1340

I'm sure there's alot more articles better articulating the frustration of many of 'us folks'.

Paul B.

[bAcK88]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

First off, the battlefield is still FREE. The admission price only covers the museum and the movie.

Now it might be because I'm currently being trained in museums studies, but I'm always stunned by the indignation people on this forum express about the museum admission for Gettysburg. Like Dusty said, the majority of the money collected from the admissions is used to cover the daily operating costs of the museum, i.e. electricity, employee salaries, etc. And if a museum is fortunate enough to have a donor, which I'm sure is the case at Gettysburg, most of money that a museum receives is expressively marked by the donor for a particular purpose, such as conservation, and thus CAN NOT be used to fund a project outside of those parameters. Donating money to keep the lights on usually doesn't have the same appeal as donating money for a collection or conservation, but without it a museum can not run, so the majority of museums absorb that cost in their admission price.

Plus $10.50 isn't really a lot of money for what you're getting. Hell, its almost same price as seeing a summer blockbuster in your local theater, but besides to a movie, you also get to see a neat collection.

Now that said, I do have many issues with the operation of the museum at Gettysburg, and many more with the interpretation and the labels and objects on display.

Now about admissions to National Park Service sites, many sites are incorporating fee collection. Since the NPS is a government funded operation, people rarely donate money to the Parks. Thus money that would have otherwise been earmarked for projects such as conservation or new interpretation tools are instead diverted to cover operating costs. So in my opinion asking $5 to enter a park, or the $10.50 for the Gettysburg museum, is a reasonable price for people to pay so that the Parks can use that money to partially cover the operating costs, and use the rest for other projects.

Bill

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

Now about admissions to National Park Service sites, many sites are incorporating fee collection. Since the NPS is a government funded operation, people rarely donate money to the Parks. Thus money that would have otherwise been earmarked for projects such as conservation or new interpretation tools are instead diverted to cover operating costs. So in my opinion asking $5 to enter a park, or the $10.50 for the Gettysburg museum, is a reasonable price for people to pay so that the Parks can use that money to partially cover the operating costs, and use the rest for other projects.

Isn't that the point where Congress needs to be lobbied to support the Parks?? Instead, we could contract out for the management of all the parks to private corporations...and just dispense with the hoax that these are still somehow owned/operated by Federal Agencies.

Or we could just continue to allow Congress to use our Tax $$ for things like sex-education, welfare, bailouts of faulty business-plans...etc??


Paul B.

[Sprowls]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

"Someone is laughing all the way to the bank"

Who?

The park officials?

If you think so, it doubly shows how unaware you are of these matters,
and the underpaid nature of their work. It is also an insult to the excellent work these folks
have been doing for many years now. Like Dusty said, "A 'non profit' still has to pay the bills".
It aint some kinda evil empire conspiracy folks.


If you're unwilling to kick in $10.50 to see the best CW exhibit in the Nation,
and call yourself a CW enthusiast, that's pretty sad. I know it's the best over-all facility cause
I've been to most of 'em, especially the big 'uns like the Museum of the Confederacy and Confederate
Memorial Hall in N.O., not to mention many other parks, exhibits, private collections, etc.
If we truly love Civil War history and are passionate about it, then wouldn't we want our Nation's best
CW collection in a first-class facility? If so, shouldn't we be willing to contribute, not to mention support
the park as a whole? I will go to the Gettysburg Visitors Center every chance I get, and if they have a
collection box for Friends of the Park, or some other worthy cause, I'll donate to that too.

It perplexes me how folks who presumably have an affinity for our history
make these types of statements. The same spirit can be seen by folks who have posted statements here defending
relic hunting on NPS property or apathy toward battlefield preservation efforts. It's kinda "bass ackwards" if you know
what I mean.

The good news is that the vast majority of visitors to the Gettysburg VC & Park will not be reenactors. It will continue
to be a place where generations of regular Americans will be exposed to a very important part of our Nation's history,
ultimately helping some of those folks understand the bigger picture of where we've come from, where we are,
and where we are going.

Chuck, please remember to sign your full name to all posts - Mike Chapman

[garyjd]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

"Someone is laughing all the way to the bank"

Who?

The park officials?

If you think so, it doubly shows how unaware you are of these matters,
and the underpaid nature of their work. It is also an insult to the excellent work these folks
have been doing for many years now. Like Dusty said, "A 'non profit' still has to pay the bills".
It aint some kinda evil empire conspiracy folks.

No, I was referring to the Gettysburg Foundation's President. I do not know the figures for this year but between 2006-2007 Robert Wilburn made $392,735 as President. This is about equal to 52,364 visitors paying $7.50 each just to pay that one (1) Foundation salary. Like I asked what is the justification for the fee increase? All that is said is visitors say the current fee is CHEAP. So you raise fees because of that? The only other explanation given is that they want to stay on target with whatever their goal(s) might be? They did NOT say they had trouble staying on target with $7.50 now they want $10.50. I don't mind paying a fee, but I can't help feeling like they are tap dancing and not being straight about the reason for an increase. If they're not meeting their goal, just say so. If they are not meeting their goal. Maybe the President's BIG salary should be contingent on how well the museum does or does not do. To me it's no different than rewarding CEOs regardless of how good or bad a company does. ~Gary

[Jimmayo]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

If you're unwilling to kick in $10.50 to see the best CW exhibit in the Nation,
and call yourself a CW enthusiast, that's pretty sad. I know it's the best over-all facility cause I've been to most of 'em, especially the big 'uns like the Museum of the Confederacy and Confederate
Memorial Hall in N.O., not to mention many other parks, exhibits, private collections, etc.

I must have gone to another visitor center. What used to arguably be the best CW exhibit in the Nation has in my opinion sunk to last place. You reference the MOC and the Confederate Memorial Hall as the same magnitude as Gettysburg and I think you ought to re-think that statement. These venues do not have the support of the CW community like GB does and still manage to put on a better display of artifacts than the new Disney GB center.

Part of the reason the GB visitor center is not meeting expenses is the absence of repeat visitors like myself who used to visit usually twice a year and have been doing so for 25 plus years. Would I pay 10.50 to see the collections in the old visitor center? The answer is Yes. In the old visitor center you could feel the magnitude and greatness of the battle through the exhibits. Sadly they are gone now.

If the new visitor center does not meet their expenses how are they going to pay for building the monorail loop to Round Top, first days battlefield and end up at Confederate Avenue? Now that would be something to complain about.

On a brighter note, the Disney GB center does have nice bathrooms.

[chesnutmor]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

I find this very disappointing. The museum went from being free to eight and now 10.50. Honestly, I am 100% for preservation and understand the rising expenses. However, this is a significant hike.

Jill

[Marylander in Grey]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

What I didnt like was the movie. I didnt like the pro anti slavery history forced down the visitors throat. As for the best CW display in the nation, Someone needs to visit more museums, GB has always been mediocure in my opinion. As for the private enterprise, isnt this is the National Park Service? Perhaps Congress should retard the Presidents incessent travel and allot more funds to whats important.
Just my 2 cents

[sepoy1857]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

isnt this is the National Park Service? Perhaps Congress should retard the Presidents incessent travel and allot more funds to whats important.
Just my 2 cents

Amen Brother!

[jfeagin]

Re: Gettysburg Visitor's Center hikes fee to $10.50

The best? No way, at least not in my opinion. Frankly I think the Civil War museum in Ft Worth, Tx was way better than even the old gettysburg museum. It also cost but I can't remember how much. Just my opinion of course. Now what I DON'T LIKE is that the grass is not getting cut. NPS is only cutting the grass around the most visited monuments. The grass on Cemetery Hill behind the old (now gone) museum and cyclorama building (not gone yet) was almost to the knees at last check (about 5 days ago). That used to be wonderfully taken care of and a great place for picnics and reflection that had plenty of shade trees. Now I'ld just get ticks up the yazoo. Times are tough and NPS isn't getting the $$$ it needs for staff and maintenance.

John