The Jackie Robinson Foundation has raised only a fraction of the $42 million it says is needed to honor the Brooklyn Dodger who shattered Major League Baseball’s color barrier.
The museum was first slated to open on the ground floor of One Hudson Square in lower Manhattan in 2010.
Instead, its founders are paying $500,000 a year to rent a shell where the 11,000-square-foot exhibition is supposed to be.
...Tax documents reveal the nonprofit spends about $1.3 million annually to rent the vacant first floor and a second-floor space housing the foundation offices. That’s more than the $1.2 million it gave out in scholarships in 2011.
More than a third of that rent expense — $546,000 per year in 2011 and 2012 — goes just to pay for the empty museum space. All told, the group has spent at least $2.1 million since 2007 on space it has never utilized.
The foundation also burned through $613,798 in salaries in 2011, paying president and CEO Della Britton Baeza $229,572 and chief operations officer La’Tonya Johnson $144,694.
The foundation had to take out a $3.8 million mortgage to “finance the foundation’s operation,” according to 2007 tax forms.
“We ran into a difficult period during the market recession,” said civil-rights lawyer Norman Siegel, who’s been on the museum’s board since 1979. “That’s why we’ve had delays.”
Spokeswoman Allison Davis said the foundation needs $20 million for construction and $22 million for an endowment to get the museum to first base.
So far, the nonprofit has raised only $13 million in “firm commitments,” she said.
Repoz
Posted: February 17, 2013 at 10:56 AM |
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1. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: February 17, 2013 at 11:05 AM (#4370963)we've already got one--it's called Citifield
Too bad the Dodgers didn't issue Jackie #1. Or #0.
Yeah, similar to my first thought. Shouldn't the museum be in Brooklyn anyway?
$1.3 M rent
$1.2 M scholarships
$0.6 M salaries
That's not a good ratio but, to be fair, most non-profit scams would be spending a lot more on salaries and less on rent. So I'm inclined more towards over-exuberance and questionable decision-making than scam artists ... unless it turns out that the building is owned by somebody connected to the foundation.
Personally $2+ M in scholarships annually and taking that $13 M in "firm" commitments and putting it towards scholarships sounds like a better way to honor Robinson.
Presidential libraries? The Vatican?
There's quite a few artists where $42M buys you like two works, never mind the rent.
There's quite a few artists where $42M buys you like two works, never mind the rent.
$42 M does sound like a lot of money for a museum dedicated to a single baseball player. How much does Jackie memorabilia cost? How big is this place? How much would it cost them to have the HoF put together a Jackie exhibit they could display in the space they've got?
I must confess to ignorance on this issue, so I'll ask: Is it normal for a museum that does not yet exist to have a board for over thirty years?
DB
Makes me want to open up a Satan museum and require $666 million in funding.
Quite.
The museum site is located on the northwest corner of Varick and Canal Streets. That cannot be described as part of the TRIangle BElow CAnal.
Honest question - are presidential libraries exculsively dedicated to the presidents themselves, or do they have other materials? I've never been to one.
Yeah, that specific detail pushed this story from weird to surreal.
I wonder if Norman Siegel's real name is Moonlight Graham.
Might be a case of mission creep. Perhaps they decided the scholarship program wasn't enough and added a museum to the foundation's wish list. Seems like this could have been incorporated into CitiField or its immediate neighborhood. Even if the foundation were to get the museum opened, it's tough to cover operating expenses from admission fees.
Finally, a place where Barry Bonds can get a fair vote.
Not sure we need a museum for Jackie Robinson, the HOF should suffice.
Actually that was the Hockey Hall of Fame.
I hate it when guys like Chris Truby & Albert Belle serve on the boards of museums that don't exit.
No one is going to a museum in a literal junkyard. But it really could be inside the stadium, promote it during the offseason considering how much money they need, etc etc.
But Citifield doesn't have a "neighborhood" unless you want to count actual Flushing, where they couldn't care less about the Mets. You would think they would market there - it's full of people. But I worked there for a year and a half and I barely saw any orange and blue. It's not to say they can't get crowds to their stadium - they can, and will again if they are good someday. But they all travel from somewhere else.
By contrast, the South Bronx has long been a blighted area, but you know what team is nearby.
"I think you've severely overvalued your company and I don't think I'd see a single cent of my money back."
"I know the business, and I can tell you, what you're doing is not unique. There are plenty of baseball museums and they don't cost this much money."
"Why would you choose that location if you can't afford it? You don't even have any profit margins."
This is imperfect because it's, you know, a nonprofit.
Wait, Tim Horton did something besides make donuts?
it's the house he was born in. they just fixed it up and then put in some of his memorabilia, iirc.
when i visited, i had my brother take a picture of me bowing down before the entrance.
Town of Cochrane. ~800 exhibits, many provided by local residents. Reading the description on this page (never been there myself) I wonder whether it's some kind of an elaborate practical joke. Charge $2 to visit random junk.
And #24. The Hockey Hall of Fame is an amazing place to visit. My choice for the best sports HOF. (With the side bonus that it's easy to get to)
#29. He had run a burger joint before getting into donuts. And according to wiki (and thus obviously true) he also had a Studebaker dealership. He seems to have had another part time job on the side.
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