In the latest round of the battle over the Norwalk Museum, we have letters to the editor in the Hour. It’s too bad this battle couldn’t really be truly historical, in keeping with all the ways disputes have been resolved.
For example, gauntlet thrown, duel in dawn. There Ralph Bloom (representing the Friends of the Norwalk Museum) and Sue Gunn (representing the historical commission) can pace out twenty feet and fire vintage pistols at each other like Alexander Hamilton and Aron Burr. Vets park would be a nice location, and everyone can sell tickets as part of a massive fund raiser for the Museum. Of course someone might die as a result of this, which would bring to an end all the bickering at we can’t have that, so maybe something else.
Like daggers at dawn. Oh wait, they’d have to throw them at each other, or something. I think death might still result, hrmm.
I know, 5 card stud. They play a single hand for the keys to the museum. Er, wait, the city doesn’t own the museum, so no one could really put it in play as a bet. This is getting kinda hard, most famous historical dispute resolution actions result in wars and deaths. Maybe the Hatfields and McCoys finally settled things. A trip to Google and we discover that they played Family Feud in 1979 and didn’t sign a peace treaty until 2003. Since that feud started roughly in 1873, that means … well it will be … when did this particular feud start again?
The letters:
To the Editor:
The board of the Friends of the Norwalk Museums, Inc., wishes to address David Park on the letter published in The Hour July 30. How can there be any common sense when half of the facts are left out?
Mr. Park refers to a legal “opinion” from a corporation counsel but doesn’t mention how many times the city’s opinion over the museum and the curator has changed during the last three administrations, usually occurring when the curator failed to carry out Historical Commission resolutions and the city’s historic prop- erties suffered. He also states that he won’t “judge why the Friends have chosen not to provide volunteers for the last seven months,” but Mr. Park knew that the curator had made it impossible to schedule volunteers by changing her schedule at the very last minute without notification of when or if she would return to the museum.
In May of 2007, to bring much needed stability after the curator’s six-month paid absence, we re-quested an operating agreement with the city to codify the Friends’ 35 years as the sponsor and operator of the museum and our Common Council in 1973 authorization to operate the museum gift shop. The proposal was passed unanimously by the Common Council’s Land Use and Building Management Committee last October.
This is when hostility toward our volunteers got worse. Volun-teers would arrive at the museum to find the doors locked and no curator. This abuse continued when the curator would lock the handicap and bathroom doors. Some of our volunteers have physical disabilities and have been treated with insult and threats. The Histori-cal Commission changed the locks to the museum and refused to hear our president speak at a Historical Commission meeting. Inappropriately and irresponsibly, the Historical Commission chairman simply removed the Friends’ from the Historical Commission agenda. Our board never closed the shop but found it locked with a closed sign posted on the door.
The public should be aware that the museum will cost the taxpayers dearly if the city runs it. Mr. Park shows his ignorance of the history of the Historical Commission and the museum with his quote about “525 square feet that taxpayers are paying for…” The fact is the rent the city receives from the original Lockwood House Museum, donated and paid for by the Lockwoods, more than compensates the rental at the museum so as not to burden the taxpayers. It was set up this way. We have paid for almost everything in the museum, the kitchen, the security system, lights, fixtures, exhibits, the storage spaces, blinds etc. The city pays for the curator’s salary.
The Friends are the membership of the museum and the benefactors who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars and 35 years of time (at no cost to the city) to staff and fundraise for all the needs of the museum. We have merely asked for the same status as the Lockwood-Mathews Man-sion Museum and the Historical Society at Mill Hill. These groups operate their historic sites as the Friends have, since 1973, operated the Norwalk Museum but without the Historical Commission’s selective and intrusive oversight.
Joseph T. Robidoux, president,
board of directors
Friends of the Norwalk Museums, Inc.
And the next one:
To the Editor:
I would like to address a few facts left out of a recent letter by Mr. Robidioux, president of the Friends of the Norwalk Museums.
The “Friends” have never been locked out of the Norwalk Museum and gift shop. In a letter to the “Friends” dated Jan. 28, 2008, signed by myself, I stated that the Historical Commission recently approved a new Norwalk Museum Management Policy and Code of Ethics and the “Friends” should have a new set of keys to operate the gift shop.
A second letter, dated Feb. 9, 2008, signed by myself, indicated that the museum has changed the locks and the “Friends” should pick up their new set of keys, which they did. The “Friends,” throughout 2008, have had access to the museum and gift shop including a security code, and they continue to hold their monthly meetings there.
Yet, Mr. Robidioux publicly states in his letter that they have been locked out. I publicly question the letter writer’s credibility with this statement and any other of his accusations.
Mr. Robidioux goes on to suggest that the rent received from the Lockwood House is earmarked for the Norwalk Museum rent. That money and most other city revenue goes into a general fund including rent from two apartments that the Historical Commission rents at the old city jail on Smith Street. We don’t directly see that revenue either. The fact remains that Norwalk taxpayers are paying rent to house a closed gift shop, no matter where the money comes from.
The “Friends” continue to claim that they have raised much money for the museum, yet as long as I have been a commissioner, we have not seen a dime. They have had several fund-raisers at the museum without approval and no accountability to the commission.
Mr. Robidoux states that the “Friends” should have the same status as the Lockwood-Mathews-Mansion Museum and the Norwalk Historical Society at Mill Hill, yet these organizations have a board of directors as a governing body while the “Friends” are merely a volunteer group.
The years of controversy surrounding the Norwalk Museum predate the appointment of the current curator. In fact, the museum has been running more efficiently and friendlier without the “Friends” involvement.
David W. Park, chairman
Norwalk Historical Commission
