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History Under Threat
The Alberta Aviation Museum Association Board has worked in good faith with the City of Edmonton Administration and those hired by them for the last several years only to arrive at a situation that is simply not sustainable as it currently stands.
June 19th, 2013 in a meeting with City administration we were initially advised that in spite of all efforts and the damaging effect on operations of the museum there would be NO additional room to provide for operations or growth.
The Board and Executive Staff immediately began lobbying Edmonton City Councillors and Mayor of Edmonton, both in person and with information, on why this was a critical problem and how it would effectively make ongoing self sustaining operations almost impossible without operational funding from the City of Edmonton.
The result was a meeting with the Mayor of Edmonton on July 12th. During this meeting which included the head of Community Services and the Chief Financial Officer of the City of Edmonton, it was made unequivocally clear; there will be absolutely no additional room for the museum’s current operations or growth. Verbally we were also told of other potential restrictions/expectations which have yet to be confirmed in writing.
Among the verbal restrictions put forward was the elimination of the Cadet programs from the facility as well as the other organizations and converting the complete building to display only. While this is yet to be confirmed in writing it may paint the picture of what is expected. The Alberta Aviation Museum Association Board intends to stand by its agreements to the EAHS organizations and fulfill the obligations agreed to.
But the City of Edmonton owns the building and with only (4) years +/- remaining on the lease and no lease extension at this time the Alberta Aviation Museum Association cannot be sure what will happen at the end of our lease in September 2017 or if a workable lease extension will be offered.
The situation is very clear in that there will be NO additional room to allow for current operations or growth. We are awaiting confirmation on whether or not there will be additional restrictions. Our lease expires in 2017 and we have been promised, but have not received a requested lease extension, at this time. There is no committed funding at this time, from the city to allow the Alberta Aviation Museum to deal with the results of these decisions.
The Museum continues to work with the representatives of the City of Edmonton Administration and the Edmonton Heritage Council staff. The Board and staff are also currently working through other options, both short and long term, to remain on our historic site.
But…the Alberta Aviation Museum’s continued existence here is not certain at this time.
Thomas Hinderks
Executive Director
Alberta Aviation Museum Association
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Alberta Aviation Museum
Edmonton Aviation Heritage Society
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