THE ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE - IS IT WORTH IT ?
The following was written in a letter in the fall of 2000 to the Houston Astronomical Society (HAS) Board, hence the references to AL's REFLECTOR magazine from the year 2000. This is strictly my opinion, and I assure you , many people agree with me.
I think that Astronomy Clubs should take a critical look at the entire Astronomical League operation and what it really does for us. Your club, as well as the rest of the clubs across the country, should withdraw from AL. Your club pays $5.00 per member per year (just raised by, members at large pay a whopping $30/yr, $40 overseas-2009) plus $10 club fee per year to be "part of the AL". For the Houston Astronomical Society, this comes to over $2,000-$2,500 per year, 20% of the HAS annual budget!! (UPDATE: Now in 2016 HAS pays the AL $3,000/yr !!). In the last 10 years, HAS paid these people something like $15,000-$20,000 !!! And for what? Couldn't HAS better use the money for our own HAS local projects (Observatory site, new tractor, new telescopes, etc.).
The November 2000 REFLECTOR issue (page 6) told how the AL is going to do the following by December 31, 2001 (re-affirmed in the August 2002 RELECTOR):
1 Acquire a national office, (Update 2009 - they have one and they pay RENT)
2. Hire employees, establish a payroll
3. Buy furniture, computers, equipment, etc.
4. Increase compensation to AL officers (Officers are already getting paid for what everyone else volunteers for. AL Officer Janet Stevens just more than doubled her compensation, See November 2000 REFLECTOR page 19, "A New Direction" )
ALL WITH OUR MONEY!!! The sole intent is to take their astronomy club umbrella hobby and expand it at our expense. This means that the dues will go up and continue to do so as the AL Officers decide to expand their "partying" even more.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! How much is HAS going to send AL over the next 10 years, $20,000, $25,000, ? And again .... for what ?
AL provides NO REAL BENEFITS to member clubs and its members. AL is merely a localized umbrella for all member astronomy clubs and members at large who willingly and unknowingly are contributing their money to the sole profit of AL Officers.
The "So-called Benefits" that AL provides all members (including members at large)are:
1.Book sales. How can this be a benefit? Nearly every book they offer can be bought at most local book stores, or on the Web. All of theircustomized specialty books (many are outdated), pamphlets and observing lists can be bought/downloaded on the web page by anyone, not just AL members.
2. Full voting privileges. What voting? Has any HAS member ever voted for anything? The AL Officers just voted themselves in to this new pork barrel business expansion project. (See page 6, November 2000 REFLECTOR). On page 19, they quote the Officer's election results and that 216 members at large and 117 member societies submitted ballots. I belong to HAS and Ft. Bend and have never seen or heard of any ballots/candidate roster in my 19 years of membership.
3. REFLECTOR - C'mon, your kidding, Each issue contains the same advertisers you see in Sky and Telescope, Astronomy magazine, the same photos, and the articles are only about AL business activities and "AL Conventions" which benefit nobody. All the information is this newsletter is REDUNDANT. It can be accessed online at their (AL) web page, or you can read about it in S & T (and Astronomy magazine) some 2-3 months earlier than when REFLECTOR has it. This "newsletter" has nothing new.
4. Annual AL meeting (ALCON)- this is not a benefit, but just another astronomy meeting that just happens to be their annual party which they charge admission to. (They charged $75 registration fee for their July 2001 annual meeting!!) ALPO, IOTA, IDA, AAVSO all have similar meetings and don’t charge ADMISSION/REGISTRATION FEES !!! If anyone wants to attend these meetings, it should be an individual cost and individual decision, NOT the shared cost burden by astronomy clubs across America.
5. Magazine subscriptions (S & T, Astronomy, Observers handbook)- We get these discounted rates anyway as member of our individual astronomy clubs. AL is not in the loop on this one.
6. Observing awards - Certificates can be made at the local level. HAS, JSCAS and numerous other clubs have their own, and the AL certificates can now be downloaded from the web. The local club President is the key person signing this award, not the AL Officers. It’s OK to have these Messier and other observing certificates, but HAS should not be paying $2,000/yr. for them.
7. TSP - This is a local event, like any other star party where each registered attendee pays a user fee. Although this is claimed to be a AL sponsored event, its really a local Texas club event put on and run by local Texas clubs and not by the AL. The entire cost of TSP is paid for by individual attendees, the AL has nothing to do with it - and this the case for star parties across America, AL doesn’t put up a dime. In fact recently AL HAD TO BE BAILED OUT by some of the larger star parties because they ran out of money. Imagine - they are taxing all the clubs across America and ran out of money - sounds like a government operation doesn’t it?
8. Promote Astronomy - THE AL DOES NOT PROMOTE ASTRONOMY. Astronomy is promoted at the local level, star parties, etc. Ask anyone that attends any of the HAS or AAS's star parties if they've ever heard of the AL. I have - they all say "NO." Somehow, AL has brainwashed the clubs that you must go through them to expand your interest, activities and education in astronomy.
All other clubs seem to do what the AL does on a volunteer basis (ALPO, AAVSO, IDA, IOTA, etc.), just for the love of the hobby. We have been paying and are going to pay even more for AL to convert our hobby to THEIR eventual big business. All of these so called "AL benefits" we get anyway by our affiliation with HAS, and they are unnecessarily duplicated by the AL at the expense of the national member clubs. Do we really need this?? No, we don't.
ALPO, IOTA, AAVSO, IDA. ASP, (SETI, Planetary Society) etc. promote specialized areas of astronomy that directly benefit its members and the field of astronomy. These specialized organizations promote and make useful contributions to astronomy. AL is a mere business venture of its Officers and does not contribute anything to astronomy. AL duplicates what's already out there - at our expense. And AL doesn't promote ALPO, AAVSO, IOTA, IDA, ASP, etc., they promote themselves. The Astronomical League is nothing more than another special interest group.
I was also member of the Ft. Bend Club also, and guess what? I received 2 REFLECTORS in the mail every 3 months! I was double dipped !!
Page 19 of November 2000 REFLECTOR shows that AL has over $240,000 on deposit which includes a $72,000 Trust Fund. 5 years ago, IOTA requested $5,000 in funding for its ongoing expensive activities from AL. Our request was DENIED. Its not that AL Officers said “no” to our funding request, they said “HELL NO !” Strangely, several AL Officers claim to be long term active members of IOTA. 5 years ago, AL had $47,000 in their Trust Fund. Yet AL has been claiming all along that they support and benefit ALPO, IOTA, IDA, etc. The truth is that they provide no financial support for these volunteer organizations, and never have. On Page 19, November 2000 REFLECTOR shows the AL had a $72,000 income, $70,000 expenses. You know what the AL is spending $70,000 per year on ? Its not on us. It’s largely on that REFLECTOR newsletter, something that’s not needed.
In short, AL is nothing more than an unnecessary EXPENSIVE MIDDLEMAN for the hobby of astronomy which they now want to expand into their own big business. AL has somehow convinced all these astronomy clubs nationwide that they need to be a member of AL to benefit from the hobby. In reality, only the reverse is true. AL benefits and exists solely because of the financial “taxation” of all the member clubs across America.
AL can do exactly what they do now without charging the dues, in other words be another special interest group/club. If anybody wants to find anything about AL or what they do just go to their web page, just like ALPO, IOTA, AAVSO, IDA, etc. If AL really wants to do what they plan on, they can do it like any other company that is in business to make a profit - convince the public to buy their products and services, not by soliciting a tax from clubs across the country. HAS does not need to duplicate what we already have by paying this $2,200-$2,500 per year tax to the Astronomical League. The pre-mentioned $240,000 - that's OUR money being used to finance the future of their office space and AL Officer's personal benefits and expenses. Again, we get no benefit from their existence.
My final conclusion is that HAS should permanently HALT the tax paid to the Astronomical League since it is unnecessary duplication of existing benefits at a substantial cost to us.
The Astronomical League is nothing but a racket placed upon
the astronomy clubs across America. It is without a doubt a great
fraud perpetrated upon the amateur astronomer
But there is some good news - your $5/year payment to the AL through your club IS VOLUNTARY. (UPDATE: IT USED TO BE - AL Figured out that lots of people were refusing to pay dues to the AL through their clubs - So the AL dropped the "Opt out")
Question: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS AL RACKET ??
Sincerely,
Richard Nugent
Education Chair, HAS