WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar will visit Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 to discuss President Bush’s National Park Service Centennial Initiative.
At a 10:30 a.m. news briefing in the Franklin Court Underground Museum, Kempthorne and Bomar will discuss the proposed FY 2008 NPS budget, which contains the largest increase in park operating funds and programs in history and calls for a Centennial Initiative to prepare national parks for the 100th birthday in 2016. Kempthorne and Bomar will also discuss how Philadelphia area parks will fare under the proposed budget.
Rebecca Rimel, the Chief Executive Officer of The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Meryl Levitz, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, will join Kempthorne and Bomar. Rimel is expected to discuss future plans for the Underground Museum at Franklin Court, the site of Benjamin Franklin’s home. The museum was constructed for the 1976 Bicentennial and has not been substantially upgraded since.
| WHO: | Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne; NPS Director Mary Bomar; Pew Charitable Trusts CEO Rebecca Rimel; Meryl Levitz, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; and Acting NPS Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach, Superintendent of Independence NHP |
| WHAT: | Briefing on President Bush’s NPS Centennial Initiative; Discussion of how National Parks in Philadelphia area will fare under FY08 budget |
| WHEN: | Friday, Feb. 9, 2007 at 10:30 a.m. |
| WHERE: | Franklin Court Underground Museum, accessible from Market Street or Chestnut Street, between 3rd and 4th Streets. Philadelphia, Pa. |
| MEDIA: | All credentialed media are invited to attend |