07-03-2015, 08:02 PM
"TMT was warned about the potential backlash/protest. The entity did everything they could to provide "more" than the $1.00 (yes, one (1) measly US dollar) per year lease rent. Good. However, there are still machinations going on with both sides. No question in my mind."
The lease or rent stuff keeps coming up. The observatories pay more than $1 per year. Their lease agreement is 15% of observing time is given to UH. It's expensive and more than the TMT will pay. The joint Astronomy Centre spent around one million dollars a year in "rent". A telescope like Gemini costs around $50,000 a night to run. That means nearly $3 million in rent every year.
It is not the fault of the observatories that their leases require this and the money might not go to where everyone wants it. An enormous amount of money is being provided by the observatories to higher education already - several million dollars a year. If rent is needed then the leases with UH need to be broken, but am not sure how that happens.
The lease or rent stuff keeps coming up. The observatories pay more than $1 per year. Their lease agreement is 15% of observing time is given to UH. It's expensive and more than the TMT will pay. The joint Astronomy Centre spent around one million dollars a year in "rent". A telescope like Gemini costs around $50,000 a night to run. That means nearly $3 million in rent every year.
It is not the fault of the observatories that their leases require this and the money might not go to where everyone wants it. An enormous amount of money is being provided by the observatories to higher education already - several million dollars a year. If rent is needed then the leases with UH need to be broken, but am not sure how that happens.