But one thing museums can do, and should, is to open up a place for real people to make real statements about the past, present, and future. It will be interesting to see if Turtle Bay can turn its goal into truth on a practical, daily basis. Yet Stephen Becker recognizes the concerns raised by the disappointing figures at OMSI and the Pacific Northwest Museum of Natural History. In the end, the simple truth is that the world and its economies are changing so rapidly that there is no way to accurately predict what the realities will be, by the time Turtle Bay is done. All that can be done is to plan as intelligently as possible, draw on top talent in all phases of operations, work like maniacs, and assume it will all work out in the end.
Faith is perhaps the most critical design element.
That may cause ulcers for key participants, but it is no harsher than what all large business projects now face. In that climate, and in an age of increasing polarization regarding most development issues, it might be expected that the enormity of the project would bring about equal enormity of opposition to it. But if that is the case, Stephen Becker has not seen it in the first four months of his tenure at Turtle Bay. I really have not heard negative feedback. The only thing that concerns people is the future of the existing museums that make up the alliance of Redding museums which is the backbone of the Turtle Bay project.