Fort Wayne’s Legacy Fund Committee met Thursday night to discuss requests for the funding of two different projects.
Receiving the most attention was the proposed expansion of Science Central to include a planetarium. Science Central president Martin Fisher says the public is asking for it.
“We’re constantly getting phone calls from schools: what do you offer in the way of astronomy education and planetariums? We’re already getting calls from universities: what can you do to help our science students to be able to show astronomy education?,” Fisher said.
The request was for $500,000, and would allow Science Central to secure technology Fisher says would connect residents to real-time looks at the sky and outer space. He says this is possible through a partnership with NASA, with whom Science Central has worked before.
The entire project would cost $2.4 million. But it won’t happen right away.
Fisher says he hasn’t procured the remaining funds for the project, which made several members gun-shy about committing its own dollars.
Councilman and committee member Tom Didier emphasized his support of the sciences, but also made note of the fact that the city subsidizes Science Central $100,000 under “facilities” in the “finance and administration” portion of the city budget.
“If it’s possible, instead of doing a $500,000 application, maybe you can do $250,000? I think that you’re on your way to getting a substantial amount of dollars, I’m just trying to keep this thing balanced,” Didier said.
Fisher noted that $100,000 is not earmarked specifically for the planetarium. He and Science Central are expected to return for the next Legacy Committee meeting, which members project will be in January.
And full disclosure, Martin Fisher volunteer hosts the “Weekly Experiment” segments before “Science Friday” on 89.1 WBOI.
