Council Is Noncommittal on Donation to Museum
The City Council on Tuesday listened politely as officials of the proposed Anaheim Museum said they were short $441,124 of the amount needed for the project, but council members refused to commit the city to a contribution.
Phillip Quarre, vice president of Anaheim Museum Inc., presented a pre-printed financial statement that placed the project’s cost at $709,505.
The statement included $268,381 the project has received in donations and pledges, counting $160,000 from the city and another “City of Anaheim Contribution”--yet to come--of $441,124.
Quarre did not explain why the pre-printed statement included a city contribution in an amount that had not been approved by the council.
The museum would be at Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway, in the Carnegie Library, which the city owns and leases to the association for $1 a year. Because the association does not yet have the full $709,505, no remodeling has begun.
Although the council took no action on the request, Mayor Don Roth said later that his colleagues are “committed to aiding and abetting an Anaheim Museum.”
The city has “leapfrogged” over its culture and has opted for two professional ball clubs and a convention center, Roth noted.
The lack of sufficient funds has delayed the museum’s opening, scheduled for January, and no new date has been set, a museum official said.
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