By Dave and Anne FoxThanks to Alan Wadlinger for his commentary in the Los Alamos Daily Post (May 12, 2015) regarding lack of display space for local businesses and attractions at the White Rock Visitor Center.
So’s not to put words in his mouth, it’s worth repeating what Alan, not a business person, wrote:
It was brought to my attention by another White Rock resident, that the White Rock Visitor Center almost totally ignores the town of Los Alamos.
As you walk into the visitor center, you will see a single display advertising that, in Los Alamos, you can buy chocolate and then work it off at the local YMCA (how exciting does it get!). Showing only one retailer implies that there is nothing else worthwhile to visit in our town. A visitor center’s main purpose should be to showcase the town and entice visitors to spend their money here by identifying the Los Alamos and White Rock attractions.
I suggest hanging a 4’ X 8’ trestle board having 8”X8” squares (total of 72 spaces) where the various Los Alamos attractions can be advertised perhaps including: the Bradbury Science Museum, CB FOX, Metzger’s, Fuller Lodge Art Center, Village Arts, great restaurants, lodgings, Nature Center, Pajarito Ski Area, ice skating, Olympic swimming pool, great hiking trails, golf, Los Alamos Historical Museum, fraternal organizations, Los Alamos Fitness Center, Ulli’s Unique Clothing Store, repurpose stores, Smith’s Marketplace, tour organizations, Los Alamos Medical Center, doctors, dentists, Los Alamos National Laboratiry (centerpiece of the Manhattan Project National Park), recreational equipment, churches, and perhaps having a haircut in Oppenheimer’s favorite chair.
Right now, the visitor center proudly proclaims that we have little to offer in this town.
CB FOX was struck by the “shortage” for sure. The current display case (five shelves just 20” wide x 20” deep”) is so small that there’s a queue of 21 display candidates, each of which is allotted just so much display time before being displaced by the next display.
Willing to provide what wasn’t, we offered to donate a second case at no cost to the County whatsoever for either the case or the freight.
So following the offer, there’s an on-the-site meet with an official to assess some standard of worthiness that can rightly be called “elusory”. Still, and not put off by it, we got re-fueled to solve the display problem some better, and probably more quickly.
So, next step: raise the ante. We propose donating a different case — more than twice the size of the Center’s existing case, making the total display space large enough for 15 displays vs. the current five.
The offer remains … and is now public in the hope of eliciting acceptance … no expense to the County. The tourism season is ready to commence full force. We’d delight to be permitted to make the donation.
