Friday, September 23, 2022

The million dollar bitty planetarium

 https://cdn.cms.prod.nypr.digital/images/Queens_planetarium_can_reuse_5236.2e16d0ba.fill-1200x800.jpg 

Gothamist

New York State Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris announced Thursday that Queens residents will soon receive a new planetarium that will cost roughly $1 million to add to a new building that will be constructed.

The new science facility will be built as part of the expansion of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens, a nearly 70-year-old institution in Astoria created to offer a safe learning and playing environment for the community’s children. The institution is undergoing a complete renovation that will include a new zero-emissions building that will house the new planetarium. Gianaris is holding a launch event at the club Thursday afternoon.

“I’m an astronomy buff,” Gianaris said. “It's nice to have the big one [Hayden Planetarium] at the Museum of Natural History, but the kids in Queens have to travel far away to enjoy that kind of education, and we thought it would be terrific to bring it right here in Queens.”

The new planetarium will seat approximately 70 people and is expected to serve up to 10,000 people annually. The funding has already been secured through the state budget for fiscal year 2022-2023. The project came out of the senator’s love of science and the need to provide more resources for kids to engage in that field, hands on.

 Gianaris said ideas for who will narrate the new planetarium's feature programs are still being floated. His favorite suggestion so far is actor Christopher Walken because of his very distinct voice and his roots in Astoria.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally the Sheeple of queens will see how George Soros deflects laser beams off planets. QAnon creep, please take noted

georgetheatheist said...

Ride 'em Gianaris! Space cowboy. Yeehah!

Chester the Dog said...

The current place is a dump.

Anonymous said...

Oh, pa-lese. The local kids certainly have an interest in astronomy and physics and higher levels of math normally associated with space travel and astronomy. Ever since the playground disappeared under a building suspicions were aroused - a local guy who went there in the 70s as a kid told me the place is like a tomb.

My high school had a planetarium (it cost 5 figures not 10) and the damn thing always broke down.

The involvement of hacks always triggers an alarm bell but we will not mention any names BUT it would be nice to revisit the 'space program' central in about 5 years and get numbers of kids served. I like how the community sat back and said .... nothing. Astoria....

Anonymous said...

My school had a planetarium (BTW you can get a good one for about $10 k) - I know someone on their board and they could not wait to get off with all the development schemes. I also know someone that went to the club when he was a kid and said it was hopping then - but no more.

There are tall buildings where there used to be a playground. What happened to the kids?

My school had a planetarium (which cost nowhere near a million) and the thing was down more than it worked - they are very fussy devices.

Gianaris, Costa, sure sure sure.....

NPC_translator said...

Only Liberals could be stupid enough to think this kind of grift will "make a difference" in the lives of the global riff-raff who populate Queens. The "zero emissions building" is a hoot.

Thousands of school kids will get schlepped to this planetarium to scream and holler during a presentation which no one will pay attention to, much less remember beyond ten minutes. What a joke.

QAnon drone said...

I’m sure this must be a communist plot. Everyone knows that there is no outer space, just the earth and heaven above.

Anonymous said...

The dumb gotta live too.

Anonymous said...

@“ which no one will pay attention to, much less remember beyond ten minutes.”

Now I know how Dr NPC Doofus ended up on the scrap heap of humanity.

Anonymous said...

@Now I know how Dr NPC Doofus ended up on the scrap heap of humanity.

TA commie - at least you don't need a planetarium.
All that Fentanyl makes you see the Big Bang and the edge of the Universe!

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