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LSC BEGS FOR $2.5M
Fulop: 'Bailout' by city would set bad precedent
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By PAUL KOEPP
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Whether it's labeled a bailout or a bridge loan, the Liberty Science Center is asking Jersey City for $2.5 million to keep its doors open.

The City Council is expected to pass a resolution tonight to authorize a loan application to the state Urban Enterprise Zone Authority. The money would come out of the sales tax revenue that fills the city's UEZ coffers.

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The science museum, located in Liberty State Park, would start paying back the zero-interest loan in March, with the balance due by Dec. 31, 2010, according to the proposed resolution.

The $2.5 million sum is about 10 percent of its annual operating budget, according to LSC President and CEO Emlyn Koster.

Koster defended the loan request at yesterday's City Council caucus, saying the museum employs more than 100 Jersey City residents, including 25 full-time staff, and educates schoolchildren from across New Jersey.

In fact, it was the state's decision to cut funding for LSC's Abbott school district programs in half, from $6 million to $3 million this year, and that precipitated the "cash crunch," Koster said.

Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy said earlier in the day museum officials came to the city for help when they learned the state would cut its funding and a request to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was rebuffed.

They told him LSC would have to close as early as Dec. 12 if it did not get the loan, Healy said, although Koster said last night LSC would actually be solvent through January.

"It is critical for us to find ways to help support the Liberty Science Center and ensure that this iconic institution remains in Jersey City," Healy said in a statement.

Branding it a "bailout," Councilman Steve Fulop said he had "significant concerns" about the loan, saying it would set a "very dangerous precedent" that nonprofit organizations could count on financial backing from the city.

Other council members expressed support for the "bridge loan," but sought assurances it would be paid back on time.

Koster acknowledged that attendance has remained below expectations since LSC reopened last year following an extensive renovation. The museum expected more 1 million visitors this year but is on pace for only about 800,000, he said.

He said LSC is launching a new marketing campaign to boost attendance and raise funds from private donors, to enable it to pay back the loan.