Sometimes we have to wonder about LA....

"Currently, LACMA (LA County Museum of Art) is putting its institutional muscle into moving a 340-ton rock from a quarry in Riverside into the heart of Los Angeles. It will cost around $10 million to move the 21.5 feet high boulder, on a custom built steel transporter with 196 wheels, 22 axels, weighing over 1.2 million pounds on Los Angeles County streets, on an arduous 106 mile route, thanks to Hanjin shipping. Not to mention, city and municipal crews will have to restring overhead wires, and take down traffic signs en route. Is “art for art's sake” enough to justify the expense, petroleum, resources, building materials and jeopardizing our already failing city streets with 1.2 million pounds of a shrink wrapped rock?"...from http://www.lalomadevelopment.com/blog/lacmas-pet-rock.

Imagine what could have been done with this money at, lets say, Travel Town or the Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society?

Craig Brinkman
www.arpcp.org

Boy, that gives whole new meaning to "I wanna rock"...

Somebody must have been "stoned" to approve that expense!

Steve

I'm not the only one that wants to hear what the "carbon footprint" of this moving project is......

"Imagine what could have been done with this money at, lets say, Travel Town or the Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society?"--Craig Brinkman

We didn't get the $10 million because we in railroad preservation and railroading in general don't get no respect, no respect at all . .

I am not sure which is more depressing:

1. LACMA paid $70,000 for a 1.2 million pound rock
2. It cost LACMA $9,930,000 to move the rock that they spend $70,000 to buy
3. We could have rebuilt an entire Golden Age streamliner to Amtrak standards and put it on tour as an educational/historical experience for the same money.

Hands down: #3

They could have just built it a building where it was and given Travel Town the rest of the money.

Craig Brinkman
www.arpcp.org

So what. It is their money and they can do with it as they please. How many of you were saying something similar last week about slapping logos on mainline steam engines or the fate of RDG 2100?

We could have a fun (and by "fun," I mean whiny) time playing this game about all sorts of things. $10M for sick children, a political campaign, war, me...

It is not like non-profit fundraising is some kind of zero-sum game. The money spent on this boulder was not headed for something more noble and was then squandered on a art exhibit at a museum that happens to host over 900,000(!) vistors per year. If you want to play the game, then get some One Percenters on your board, reliably provide programs with broad public appeal, and then maybe you could put together a detailed proposal for your $10M preservation objective. I have a few guesses why most of our organizations have not done this, and it is not because railroad history gets no respect.

Meanwhile, people, including the mega wealthy, are inclined to like trains. Whether or not we squander that good will with boring nerd club railroad "museums" that at best look like tourist railways and at worst like scrap yards is up to us.

Also, Amtrak certified streamliner for $10M? Good luck with that.

R.

I thought California was bankrupt? I guess there's always money for atsy stuff. What happened to hanging the steam engine up and dangling it by the back of the frame? Wasn't that another wild scheme out there?

Agreed! It's annoying if you ask me... Recent events show how much respect some persons have for railway preservation. Then there's also the politics (ranging from small town governments all the way up to the feds) that seem to always be turned against railway preservation. Such disrespect (and lack of faith in a dedicated group of individuals) is like a slap to the face!

Anyway, $10 million to move a rock. That's not saying it might not be of significance (Plymouth Rock anyone?), but that money would be far better spent building a museum around that boulder. Doesn't seem like the City of Angels thought of the cheaper option...

Why are we discussing this?

Chris -

Good point. Time to let this thread whither away.

Les