A rally is scheduled for this Friday in front of Seaford’s aimed at seeking support from Nassau County to reopen the facility.
The rally, slated to start at noon on Friday in front of the museum located on 2225 Washington Ave., Seaford, is being organized by the recently formed Friends of Tackapausha Committee. The group has been hard at work trying to reopen the county-run run museum after it was closed due to massive budget gap. Tackapausha Museum Director Wendy Albin was one of more than 200 county workers laid off in late December.
“We must show the county how important this museum is to our children,” the Friends of Tackapausha Committee said in a statement announcing Friday’s rally.
Nassau County Communications Director Brian Nevin that they could not comment on personnel matters but that the museum is expected to reopen to the public "on a regular basis this spring."
The Friends of Tackapausha Committee is a non-partisan organization with charitable 501(C)(3) tax-exempt status pending. The organization has a mission of working with Nassau County to assist the museum’s director and its staff to operate the educational center.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano had announced in early November that the Tackapausha Museum starting Jan. 1 from Wednesday to Friday but the facility instead stayed shut for the entire month. In September, Mangano announced that wildlife museum to help close a more than $300 million budget gap.
The Tackapausha Museum, which is set to celebrate its 65th anniversary this year, recently . The museum has been closed to the public since Aug. 16, 2010 when the renovation project first began.
For further information on the Friends of Tackapausha Committee, e-mail friendsoftackapausha@yahoo.com or join the group’s Facebook page.
Is this to re instate an individual or is this to insure that the museum stays open & work with the county to insure either thru volunteers, donations etc that Seafords little "jewel" remains open. I dont know if a "Rally" for support of a yet unknown "cause" sends the right message to anyone including the residents/taxpayers. What exactly do they want & what exactly do they hope to accomplish? The county has already said it will open on a limited basis. To be quite honest having the museum open 7 days a week IS rather a waste of resources perhaps 2-3 days a week & by appointment for school trips etc. While it is a nice little piece of Seaford it takes all of 20 minutes to got thru the place, at no time is the place "packed" & like the one kid said its known as the "bat" museum,thats how they think of it. Does anyone ELSE in the county even know about this place? Is it utilized by any of the schools as a scheduled trip as a teaching resource? To be honest I live 2 blocks away and I took my kids there TWICE when they were preschool. after that they & i lost interest. In my opinion its "Nice" to have but not a "MUST have" on my own personal list of county financed priorities. How much DOES this cost the county to run, staff & keep open?
Many residents knew the museum's director who performed her tasks for years with great results. She was let go by the Mangano administration when it decided to close the museum. When the museum is reopened on Earth Day in April 2012, a director will be put in place who will be part of the Parks and Recreation Department. There is no guarantee that the former director will be this person. The rally was partially in support of the former director returning to her position, the museum reopening on a full-time schedule (there is no guarantee that the museum will be open more than several days per week, thus limiting access to the animals and displays), and for improvements to the museum in order to attract more residents of Long Island to this lovely facility. Friends of Tackapausha is on Facebook. Please show your support for the museum and preserve to remain available to all of us. A developer was interested in this property. Do you want more homes and less fresh air space in Seaford?
what is wrong with the county selling off 25 of the 54 acres? To a developer who is ECO friendly and a responsible "green" developer building a 55+ community retaining the Museum and establishing a neigborhood friendly park atmopshere? Win win for all , the county gets considerable funding from the sale of 1/2 the land, the museum gets retained, Seaford isnt "blighted" by yet another cookie cutter look development. We pick up much needed tax revenue without adding addtional cost to the school district, the county gets money, and the preserve becomes more user friendly albeit smaller. The balance of acreage left should have a moritorium placed on it forbidding any future sales or development for the next 200 yrs.