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[i]The [URL=http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/]San Diego Air & Space Museum[/URL] wants to bring a nearly 100-foot Atlas rocket to Balboa Park and install it near the museum's parking area. A [URL=http://members.cox.net/atlas2balboa/]private group[/URL] of Atlas aficionados is raising $150,000 to move the 48-year-old craft from its current spot at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, where it serves as a landmark for drivers along state Route 67. The Atlas has a legion of fans, including about 1,000 former missile program workers and friends who gathered last summer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. But the reception for the rocket might not be so festive at Balboa Park, a nationally registered landmark with strict rules about its historic Spanish Colonial look. Changing more than a blade of grass is usually a challenge. The Atlas proposal must go before San Diego's Balboa Park Committee and would require approval from the Historical Resources Board, the Park and Recreation Department and the City Council because the installation would require a change in the park's land-use plan. County Supervisor Ron Roberts has committed $80,000 from his allotment of community grants to the project if it passes all the hurdles. Organizers want to add a model of a Mercury space capsule on top as an homage to the late Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury astronauts. Schirra, a San Diego resident for many years, [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-050307a.html]died[/URL] in May 2007. They have raised $40,000 in private donations, well over the $24,000 threshold Roberts set before public funding could kick in.[/i]
[i]"My main concern is that we make sure the public knows about the proposal and that they have an opportunity to participate," Granowitz said. "With a project that will have this kind of prominence in a historical district, we just need to proceed carefully."[/i]
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