LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
I READ with interest the article regarding the Gippsland Armed Forces Museum leasing arrangement.
The council kicked the museum out of the old drill hall without getting a signed contract from TAFE that they would build a new campus on the site.
If instead of being military museum, it was, say, an art gallery and the council needed the building for, say, a library, it would have had 12 million dollars spent on a new facility and then had it staffed with council employees.
To top it all off, each visitor would be subsidised $20-plus so that they paid nothing to view the exhibits.
There are many other special interest groups in the shire which must stand on their own two feet with minimal input by the shire.
They use shire facilities, but must pay for the privilege.
If the council treated every special interest group the same, there would be much more money to help all groups bring tourists and visitors to other events.
It is about time the council handed the running of the art gallery over to the art group which lobbied for it, and charged visitors for the privilege of viewing the exhibits.
Run it along the lines of the Maffra Shed, which works well.
With the savings, invest in groups like the Gippsland Armed Forces Museum and other groups, so we have a broader variety of exhibitions for visitors to the shire to see.
Not everyone likes a piece of canvas with a bit of paint on it.
