[Taxacom] the New Brunswick Museum's building stalemate

[Fred Schueler]

Everyone,

Here's a letter sent out by the Friends of the New Brunswick Museum 
about the museum's current plight. There's a page on their blog with 
e-mail addresses for letters of support for the museum -
https://friendsofthenbm.wordpress.com/what-you-can-do-right-now/ - and 
such letter should be CC:'d to Director Jane Fullerton 
<Jane.fullerton at nbm-mnb.ca> and Curator of Zoology Donald McAlpine 
<Donald.McAlpine at nbm-mnb.ca>. It's important for letters to go to the 
city council this weekend, since there's to be a council meeting on 
Monday at which the museum will make a presentation, presumably asking 
the council to relax its hostility/indifference towards the museum's 
need for new facilities. There's background on this 
hostility/indifference at the Friends blog 
https://friendsofthenbm.wordpress.com/

You can study this for more background material, but a simple letter of 
support to the Saint John Common Council would be most helpful.

fred schueler
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For nearly 175 years, the New Brunswick Museum (NBM) located in Saint 
John, New Brunswick, Canada has been the provincial hub for cultural, 
scientific, and research activity. It has inspired artists, played a 
vital role in protecting endangered species, encouraged young people to 
become learners and thinkers, among so many other important functions. 
It is a resource not merely for New Brunswickers, but beyond.

For the past 15 years, the NBM has sought to find a solution to a 
problem that has endangered its collection, its staff, and its work. The 
NBM’s Collections and Research Centre was built in the 1930s. It is 
dreadfully overcrowded, has no fire suppression system, no environmental 
controls, and has serious mold, leak, and vermin issues. The building 
itself is in a state of failure, with the stone roof estimated to 
collapse within two years, taking one or two floors with it. In short: 
the situation has finally reached crisis level, and the NBM is out of time.

The solution is not simple. As a crown corporation, the NBM falls under 
the jurisdiction of one provincial department (Tourism, Heritage and 
Culture) while the facilities it rents fall under another 
(Transportation and Infrastructure). To further complicate matters, 
Saint John City Council has not demonstrated visible and active support 
for the NBM in this time of crisis; the indefinite tabling of a key 
decision and subsequent silence regarding a possible solution has given 
an air of indifference, at best.

At this time, it is absolutely imperative for two things to happen:

1) It must be made unequivocally clear to the New Brunswick Provincial 
Government that the NBM (and its collection and expertise) is a vital 
and worthwhile asset, not to just New Brunswickers but far beyond our 
borders. It is something in which we can take pride, and its protection 
and work should be a priority rather than an afterthought.

2) [Museum people around the world] must stand up and demonstrate the 
desire to keep the New Brunswick Museum – and its cultural, economic, 
social, and educational benefits – [active and effective]. As the 
provincial museum, the reality is that it can be relocated to any 
community in the province, particularly if it is cost-effective or 
politically wise to do so.

Please make your support known as soon as possible, help spread the 
word, and encourage others to do so.

Thank you.

Karen J. McLean
Founder of the Friends of the New Brunswick Museum


Blog: https://friendsofthenbm.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofthenbm/
Please note: The Friends of the New Brunswick Museum is a concerned 
citizens group that is not formally affiliated with nor does it 
officially represent in any way the New Brunswick Museum or the Province 
of New Brunswick.
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           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Daily Paintings - http://karstaddailypaintings.blogspot.com/
Vulnerable Watersheds - http://vulnerablewaters.blogspot.ca/
Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - http://pinicola.ca/mudpup1.htm
     RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
    on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
     (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca/
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