THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 4, 1995 TAG: 9510040553
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
It was supposed to be about fun and fantasy. Instead, a proposed carousel for the Children's Museum of Virginia has started a feud.
The City Council is battling over who will decide what goes on the second floor of the Children's Museum of Virginia.
But for some, the fight extends beyond politics to the mission of museums and who they are designed to serve.
The battle began when Councilman Cameron C. Pitts offered up his vision for the museum. He suggested that the city build an atrium on the front of the boxy building. The glass facade would be more attractive, and Pitts hoped it would eventually be home to a colorful carousel designed to catch the attention of visitors.
The atrium got public support, and the council eventually approved it - but not necessarily to house a carousel.
Betty Burnell, the city's director of museums, suggested that a lighthouse lens that had been stored away decades ago could be part of the museum's exhibits. Several folks picked up on that idea and suggested that the lens be placed in the atrium.
Kearney and Associates, the company that drew up the designs for the museum's first floor exhibits was assigned to bring in plans using the carousel, the lens and whatever else the designers thought would be appropriate.
They came back with two concepts. One featured the lens and a replica of the solar system hanging above it. The second design used the carousel to fill the space.
The designers never understood they were to bring in a third vision, so the council recently sent them back to the drawing boards.
Acting City Manager Ronald W. Massie has met with Jay Paulus, one of the designers, and plans to discuss Paulus' ideas with the council.
But Massie said before the council decides on what will go in the atrium, ``the mission of the museum and how it's best served is really the question that needs to be determined.
``I want to be sure I understand the mission,'' Massie said, ``and I'm not sure that I do.''
Even the council has different ideas about the museum. Some see it as simply a family attraction. Some see it as an educational amenity, and others see it as an economic development tool for the downtown.
In its first 10 months the museum has proved a success. The museum has already attracted more than 180,000 visitors.
Massie said the Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission, which is also split on what should go in the atrium, will offer its input to the council.
While council members have their various views, Burnell said that education is an intrinsic value of the museum. The museum commissioners who support plans for the lens believe that it holds more educational value. They view the carousel as a toy.
But citizens, including Simonsdale Civic League president Karen Jordan, have complained that the commission is ``elitist,'' and that it seems most interested in serving upper-class families.
Vice Mayor Johnny M. Clemons said that race may also be a factor in the decision.
``There are rumors that say some persons are opposed to the carousel because it would attract more black children, and they don't want it because they don't want black children flocking to the children's museum,'' Clemons said. ``At this point in the history of the children's museum it has been for other than black children.
``I hate to be the one that always implies that race is a motive, but when you have a city that is split like ours is, most of the time that's what happens,'' Clemons said.
Other council members said none of this is about class or color, just where best to locate the carousel.
Many want the experts - the exhibit designers and the museum commission - to decide what goes in the atrium.
``I shudder to think if we get the public involved because we already have plans,'' Mayor Gloria O. Webb said. ``There's obviously been a thrust to come to council meetings and write letters to the editor, and in my opinion, that's not the way to find a solution to what goes in the atrium.''
That kind of attitude concerned Clemons.
``How in the world can you run a city without input from the public?'' he asked.
The second floor of the museum is designed as a science and learning lab, which officials hope will attract teenagers. The ``Hall of Sciences'' will include hands-on laboratories on navigation, astronomy, magnetism and electricity. It will have an electronic library and education center.
But the second floor will also be home to the Lancaster Train and Antique Toy collection which Junie Lancaster donated last year. The collection is worth more than $1 million.
Webb and Councilman P. Ward Robinett said they are not opposed to the idea of having a carousel downtown, but they don't believe the museum is the right place for it.
``I like carousels,'' Robinett said. ``I just feel that a carousel may be more advantageous to us in the broader scope of things, located in a different location, other than within the museum itself. If you put all of the attractions into one building adjacent to a parking garage, the natural tendency of the family going into an urban area is to park in the. . . garage, go into the attraction, go back to their car and leave.''
Pitts is among a group of people who believe that personal politics may be the real reason the carousel idea has foundered.
Pitts is a maverick and often on the outs with the majority of council. He goes around them, develops public support for his ideas and then brings them to his peers.
Pitts was also one of the toughest opponents of riverboat gambling, and helped get a proposal for a gaming operation in Portsmouth killed. That angered several of his fellow council members, including James C. Hawks who last month vowed that he would ``never, never, support the carousel.''
Webb said Pitts has alienated his colleagues as he has drummed up public support and ``front page news'' on the carousel.
``I think the council resents it,'' Webb said. ``He has gone and done his own little thing without any encouragement from the City Council, and he has interjected himself in the situation. He's gotten the Friends of the Museum stirred up, and this is without the council even approving it.''
Pitts, however, said he'd like the council to consider the carousel instead of the feud and ``recognize what's right rather than who's right.'' by CNB