By Cecilia Chan | East Valley Tribune
The city-owned Arizona Museum of Natural History – which features a life-size dinosaur bursting out of an upper exterior wall in downtown Mesa – is not living up to its potential and is seeing attendance waning.
To remedy that, a consultant last week recommended either renovating the museum at an estimated cost of $84 million or tearing it down and building a much larger facility for $170 million.
“This will come as no surprise that I will voice my support for arts and culture in our city,” Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury said. “I think besides all of the economic impact – which I think we very easily can find proof of – this is quality of life.
