Discovery Center Deal

* I recently attended a public meeting on the Discovery Center, the interactive science education center to be built right here in Thousand Oaks--maybe.

Phase 1 is an IMAX theater. We were told that profits from ticket sales will come in after the first year. And these profits will start to fund the construction of the Discovery Center. But only if the profits come in.

IMAX theaters have been successful when attached to a museum or other destination--i.e. the Grand Canyon. However, stand-alone IMAX theaters are not profitable. Phase 1 of the Discovery Center is a stand-alone IMAX theater.

People keep talking about the Discovery Center and IMAX theater complex, when in reality, it’s the IMAX theater and--if the profits come in--the Discovery Center. I asked what happens if the IMAX theater fails to be profitable; who then pays for the Discovery Center? The response was, “We haven’t considered what happens if the IMAX fails. At this point . . . we don’t know.”

A contract with the IMAX company has been secured. A development agreement with the city will be heard on July 25, and nobody has considered that the IMAX theater may fail to make a profit? The people want the science museum, the crown jewel of this development--not an empty building with a struggling IMAX theater.

ANN MATHIAS

Westlake Village