New York – Faced with hefty operating costs, the foundation building the 9/11 museum at the World Trade Center has decided to charge an admission fee of $20 to $25 when the site opens next year.
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The exact cost of the mandatory fee has not yet been decided.
Entry to the memorial plaza with its twin reflecting pools will still be free.
The decision to charge for the underground museum housing relics of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has been met with dismay by some relatives of 9/11 victims.
Memorial foundation head Joseph Daniels said Saturday that the museum has little choice. It’s expected to cost nearly $60 million a year to operate the site.
Daniels said the museum will be free during certain hours every week.
Mandatory? Many, if not most, government museums have “suggested donation”, if they have a fee at all. This is not MOMA or the Guggenheim!
$5.00 students/$10.00 adults TOPS This is not a toll on a bridge. It is bad enough that some people will have to pay a toll to come/ so have a heart/ OOPS/ Sorry, the Mayor does not have one!!
Isn’t this the museum that cost a billion dollars to build? When is enough enough?
I recall the short lived, “National Sports Museum” at 26 Broadway had a $25 per head admission to see things like Tonya Harding’s assault rifle, a reproduction of the Heisman trophy and other such crap…and where is it today? If this place needs $25 per head to operated it will be another albatross around the neck of NYC taxpayers in short order.
There is no reason for the museum to be free. Maybe allow free attendace a few days a year for the mishpacha of someone killed in the twin towers but otherwise, a modest admission fee make sense.
It should be noted that there is no charge to visit Pearl Harbor, or the Arizona Memorial!
To #7 - You are correct; the National Park Service operates the Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor Memorial area, which is in close proximity. However, the National Park personnel are not nice individuals. They are typical obnoxious bureaucrats. On the other hand, the U.S. Navy personnel, who took us out to the Arizona Memorial, in a U.S. Navy launch, were very courteous and professional!