National Park Service: Liberty 360: Stupidity All Around

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Liberty 360: Stupidity All Around

Liberty 360 is a waste of taxpayer money in that it is a dreadful show - while the design of the space is terrible and the technology is awful, the content manages to be the worst part of Liberty 360.

Neil Nandi

November 4, 2010

Overview
George Washington began the second term in the history of the Presidency of the United States in a plain red brick building called Congress Hall, located on the southeast corner of 6th and Chestnut Streets. The simplicity of this modest building - the precursor to the magnificent U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. - underlies the humble dignity of this nation’s fundamental goal: a government of the people, by the people, for the people. A little more than two hundred years later, Congress Hall has been marred by garish lights from across 6th Street, lights whose tackiness, pointlessness and blindness to good sense underlie those same qualities in its source: Liberty 360, the new show at the Historic Philadelphia Center, located at the southwest corner of 6th and Chestnut Streets. The show runs 15 minutes and costs $6.00, yet somehow manages to be a remarkable waste of time and money.

Historic Philadelphia Incorporated (HPI) suggests something marvelous from its Liberty 360 show, heralding,

“This amazing, emotional, visual and audio film adventure celebrates the iconic symbols which have shaped the history of America... This brand new attraction, a 360-degree, 3-D show designed by David Niles escorts the audience on a journey of discovery and exploration of America...”

What a wonderful concept: a spectacle that will use cutting-edge entertainment technology to infuse America’s incredible past with an energy capable of powerfully conveying to 21st Century audiences the inspirational story of our freedom. At its core, this is truly a great idea. So was the Edsel.

Instead of delivering a compelling product that merges history with modernity, HPI has produced a boring and disjointed waste of money that, remarkably, may leave audience members less knowledgeable than when they entered.[1]

Dreadful Technology
First, the technology is miserable. Instead of adding dimension, the 3-D effects merely darken and disorient, leaving the show less watchable than if it were in 2-D. The CGI animation is perhaps more embarrassing, harkening to SyFy original movies. The 360-degree is another failed gimmick, since the primary action occurs on a small, central portion of the screen that is simply not 360-degree. In fact, the surrounding screens only show images towards the end of the show, and these images distract from the overall experience by rendering the presentation more difficult to watch. Stunningly, HPI managed to create obstructed views in such a small theater (funded by PECO, an Exelon company) by placing massive support pillars in front of the screen, thereby blocking elements of the show.

Dreadful Design
Second, the space is strikingly poor. In addition to obstructed viewing angles from which traditional movie theaters have not suffered for decades, the only seating in this “65-person theater” is a small bench capable of holding perhaps two people. If you happen not to be amongst the first two in the theater, you must then stand, sit on the floor, or lean against the metal rails in the middle of the floor. In fact, the “seating” arrangement testifies to HPI’s recognition that the show is not 360 degrees, since the bench and the rails all compel viewers towards a single screen and at a single angle. If the show were actually to be 360 degrees, the seats would be arranged in a circular manner more conducive to viewing the surrounding display.

Disjointed Content & Storyline
Third, and most important, the content is abysmal. Somehow, in spite of the terrible space and technology, the content manages to be the worst part of Liberty 360. No coherent storyline exists. It feels like someone took a hodgepodge of poorly-made scenes, randomized their order, and committed to the disjointed result. Bouncing around from images of the Liberty Bell, an American Flag at Citizens Bank Park (home of the Philadelphia Phillies), the streets of Paris, Independence Hall, and scenes from across the United States, the presentation suffers from a dearth of direction. The show fails to showcase Philadelphia, fails to present any issue or concept even in as much as a superficial manner, and fails to engage its audience. Instead, we receive shoddy history, dreadful acting, and a bizarre, ill-conceived meme in which liberty - the most valuable concept in our history - can be contained in a tiny wooden box that Benjamin Franklin totes amidst computer-generated backgrounds.[1]

Personally, I do not want my liberty trapped in a box. I suppose, however, that this symbol is emblematic of Liberty 360 as a whole, since it bastardizes this country’s history, while leaving the citizenry no choice but to pay for it. That’s right: this miserable creation received public support from the National Park Service, the City of Philadelphia, the Delaware River Port Authority, PECO and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In fact, the Commonwealth alone contributed $5 Million dollars to the disaster.[2]

Liberty 360 fails on every level. Instead of dramatically conveying this nation’s history and our valuing of liberty, it strips America’s heritage of its greatness and excitement, leaving in its place a monument to waste and incompetence. Only an idiot would pay for such a wreck. Unfortunately, we are those idiots, paying millions to denigrate the ideals our forefathers established just across the street from the monstrosity called Liberty 360.

Notes:
[1] For example, the Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814, not in 1812, as incorrectly claimed in the Liberty 360 show.

[2] Salisbury, Stephan. "Lights of Liberty getting a high-tech update." Philadelphia Inquirer, May 18, 2010. Web.

Exhibits:
Lights of Liberty Fact Sheet, September 2010.

Salisbury, Stephan. "Lights of Liberty getting a high-tech update." Philadelphia Inquirer, May 18, 2010.

Press Release, "Historic Philadelphia, Inc. Opens New Lights of Liberty Attraction," September 28, 2010.

Background on The Constitutional’s disputes with the NPS and Independence Visitor Center

The Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia (“The Constitutional”) offers guided walking tours of the Independence National Historical Park area by providing a primary overview of Independence Park and visiting more than 20 of Independence Park’s most historic sites including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenters’ Hall, Declaration House, etc.

From 2005 to 2010, the Independence Visitor Center Corporation sold tickets for The Constitutional’s various tours only at the IVC’s main information and sales desk. The IVCC has received a 20.0% (twenty percent) sales commission on each ticket that it has sold for The Constitutional (ranging on average in gross price from $12.50 to $17.50). Since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license a dedicated ticket sales booth from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms commensurate with Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, for example. Additionally, since 2005, The Constitutional has requested to also license marketing opportunities and commercial use authorizations from the National Park Service and IVCC on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

The Independence Visitor Center (“IVC”) is owned and operated by the United States of America - National Park Service (“NPS”), which then sub-contracts with the Independence Visitor Center Corporation (“IVCC”), a taxpayer supported public charity, to manage the IVC.

The IVCC and NPS have preferenced third parties including Ride the Ducks and Philadelphia Trolley Works, and the IVCC and NPS have discriminated against The Constitutional Walking Tour. The National Park Service has enabled the creation of this unfair business environment. The National Park Service and the IVCC have ignored and circumvented Federal management and concessions laws for the sale of goods and services at Independence National Historical Park that require open, transparent, competitive and appealable processes awarding concessions contracts for the sale of goods and services including tours.

To facilitate the administration of the National Park Service System, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, acting through the NPS, is authorized under the National Park Service Organic Act (“Organic Act”) to carry out twelve categories of activities, none of which include transferring administrative responsibility to a private party [i.e., IVCC] or engaging in cooperative administration with a private party [i.e., IVCC]. 16 U.S.C. § 1a-2(a)–(l). Rather than grant the NPS discretion in its dealings with park concessioners, Congress established “carefully controlled safeguards against unregulated and indiscriminate use” of the parks in the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (“Management Act”), which governs all national park public accommodations, facilities, and services. 16 U.S.C. § 5951 et seq.; see also 36 C.F.R. Part 51.2 (“policy underlying concessions contracts”). The safeguards are not limited to nationwide policy: Congress also manages the parks with significant visitor traffic on a park-by-park basis. See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. §§ 21–40c (Yellowstone), §§ 91–110d (Mount Rainier), §§ 212–218a (Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace), and §§ 410z–410z-5 (Boston National). One of the dozens of national parks managed by specific statutes is Independence National Historical Park (“INHP”). 16 U.S.C. §407m–407s. As such, compliance here going forward would require the NPS, first, to reassume from the private IVCC the NPS’s duties “to administer, operate, manage, lease, and maintain” properties at INHP pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 407s; second, to award “all proposed concessions contracts … through a competitive selection process” pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 5952; and, third, to issue commercial use authorizations in a rational manner pursuant to a reasonable interpretation of 16 U.S.C. § 5966(c).

The IVCC and NPS have arbitrarily and randomly selected business partners in a non-competitive and clandestine manner; as such, the actions of the NPS and IVCC have from an economics perspective stifled competition, innovation and consumer choice. Ultimately the IVCC’s actions have enabled prices to increase for its preferred vendors to strengthen the for-profits’ financial performance. Visitors to Philadelphia will be better served when the IVCC’s management, manners and methods are fundamentally changed. This would include having the National Park Service abide by Federal concessions management laws. Specifically, this will entail only having the NPS award concessions sales contracts and not having the IVCC involved in any of the selecting, awarding, contracting and managing of Independence Park’s third party concessions, including inside the Independence Visitor Center. This is the model that is practiced in virtually every other of the 390 (three hundred ninety) National Park Service units across the United States (in 49 states) including at Yosemite, Yellowstone, Statue of Liberty, etc. Additionally, visitors and all stakeholders will be better served once the operation of the taxpayer funded IVCC is totally transparent and accountable. While part of the issue centers on a publicly funded charity competing against the private sector (i.e., by offering guided tours and services), it more so has to do with the manner in which the IVCC and NPS operate and discriminate against third party concessionaires, tour operators and vendors in a random and arbitrary fashion (i.e., with the licensing and leasing ticket sales kiosks by the IVCC to third party companies, for example).