For example the Peninsula Astronomical Society in Mountain View, allows its members to use the 16 inch telescope at Foothill College, as well as 12 inch and 16 inch scopes permanently mounted in domes at a nearby site off Skyline Road. I said it earlier and will say it again. Whats worse, is that even experienced observers find them difficult to use. The only thing they can be used for, is to look at the moon. This will then get you hooked and make you want to buy a better scope.
Power is meaningless.
Ignore a telescope that claims lots of power or magnification. Most observers rarely use high magnification because the atmosphere is never steady enough from your backyard. You'll find that most observing magnification with a beginner scope is from 50-125 power. This is more than enough to show craters on the moon, the rings of saturn, and moons of jupiter. Aperture is important.