Bob Grant wrote:

That begs the question of how does the Salt Lake County Library evade that rule? They make their rooms and auditoriums available to private parties at no cost.

The following are my personal, individual comments and do not reflect any comments or positions of SLAS. I feel the larger core issue is what the Clark director, Clark's board or trustee's and/or citizens's advisory board, view as the proper roll of local astronomy clubs in the facility. My impression is that Clark is a "scopeless" planetarium. SLAS (Patrick and Seigfried and others) has done an amazing job of building a scope facility with scopes, now up to 30" in diameter, at no cost to the taxpayers. Many SLAS members are dedicated amateurs who own advanced scopes. There is a natural fit between the resources of Clark and the SLAS, since the Clark is "scopeless" and SLAS has a cadre of informed amateurs with scopes. That natural fit of resources can further Clark's primary mission of public education, which is also a secondary objective, to my understanding of SLAS. For example, during the recent Mars opposition, the general public flocked to SPOC, not the planetarium. Government agencies (e.g. Natural History Museum, Red Butte Gardens, etc.) rarely turn away a willing and able cadre of experienced volunteers. It aids them in achieving their core mission without using taxpayer dollars. The key issue of this thread is not the narrower question of whether SLAS can meet at the planetarium. To my understanding, SLAS does not want to meet there because of the fee parking situation. The narrow meeting issue raised in the Tribune entertainment column is only symptomatic of the larger question. Clark is also a relatively young facility, that no doubt is still trying to crystalize organizational focus during the start-up phase of a new public service. Their delay in having an integrated program with recognized community groups is understandable. Both groups have changed in the last couple of years. Maybe it is time to visit the question of whether a more formal and coordinated working relationship is now in order. Again, I would like to stress that this email should not be taken as overly harsh criticism of Clark. Some intentions do not translate well through the imperfect media of email. Overall, everyone in the community, and myself personally, are proud of the facility. It's a good movie theater and a good movie productionn company that cranks out, now internationally recognized, computer generated graphics productions. I understood from the November meeting that SLAS had some kind of a liason or representative on the Clark board. If that is the case, perhaps a Clark report could be added to the agenda at the next meeting. Clark director Seth hopefully will give some indication here of what this division of the Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation Department's policies are with respect to working with local recognized community groups. That is what I am interested in having an answer to, as well as finding out who runs Clark, that is who is on the board(s). Respectfully, Canopus56 Salt Lake City, Utah __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250