No more appeals for additional rates for anything. It is official that Palo Alto has too much money and not enough sense.

""I think the timing … right before the public vote on new taxes wasn't great," DuBois said."

No kidding. So they waited until after. Remember next time.

I miss seeing all the kids and their caregivers in front of the old, charming FREE JMZ, not this sterile empty pricey monument designed by consultants with no local knowledge .

@Bystander,

“It is official that Palo Alto has too much money and not enough sense.”

The City doesn’t look to have enough money and the $6 million in taxes that just passed are nothing compared to the costs it has and that it creates by being everything to everyone except Palo Alto. The point of this museum was that it was free, not a playground for people to make money off experiments.

$10 per person attendance is way to high for casual attendance with pre-schoolers. Why was Palo Alto able to have free attendance all those years? I often took my grandchildren to the museum for an hour or so of fun when they were toddlers. Because it was free, it was one of the most diverse places I could take them. There were always lots of kids there of all ethnicities. I usually donated something and there was a lot of fundraising.

Are Palo Alto services now only for the rich? Was charging for admission a condition of the millions of dollars donated for the upgrade? That was certainly my impression. My guess is that some people didn't want their kids exposed to children from lower income families.

@Marie,

“Are Palo Alto services now only for the rich? Was charging for admission a condition of the millions of dollars donated for the upgrade? That was certainly my impression. My guess is that some people didn't want their kids exposed to children from lower income families.”

Good questions. The museum was free before because it worked with that goal. It lacked nothing and served everyone. Now it’s a museum business by museum entrepreneurs for the rich.

The City shouldn’t be spending any money on marketing. Instead the geniuses behind the dinosaurs should raise private money to pay for marketing and any City money should go to rectifying the exclusion of children because somebody had to get rich off an obscene “upgrade” that was unnecessary.

Bizarre, just bizarre, this expenditure of taxpayer money. SMH

Marie and Bystander3 say it all.....

I am happy with the new pricing. 10 years ago I took my kids to the FREE Junior Museum and very often it was so crowded that my kids couldn’t access the indoor exhibits. With Covid, if you didn’t charge an admission, it would be a recipe for disaster. As a native Palo Altan, please keep some places unique and not overcrowded .