Ask Mr. Sun:

Will we get a children’s museum here?

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Ask Mr. Sun

Jan. 6 -- No lights on U.S. 95?
Jan. 2 -- Was that Steve Wynn, Encore commercial real?

Hey Mr. Sun,

Is there any chance that Las Vegas will get a children’s museum like the ones in Chicago or Boston? The Lied Discovery museum is nice, but it is small.

• • •

By big-city standards, Las Vegas’ museum for little ones is, well, little.

The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, which opened in 1990, is 22,000 square feet and has a $1.8 million annual budget.

By comparison, the Chicago Children’s Museum is 57,000 square feet and has a $6.3 million budget.

The local museum’s location, at 833 Las Vegas Boulevard North, across from Cashman Field, isn’t ideal either. It’s near the city’s homeless-services corridor, which means children sometimes get a lesson in Las Vegas street life and the importance of personal hygiene as they walk from the parking lot to the museum.

But, according to museum officials, things are getting better.

There are immediate plans to upgrade the exhibits. In February, a “green village” exhibit — a miniature city constructed of sustainable materials — will be unveiled. And by March, the museum will have replaced 65 percent of its original exhibits.

The museum is studying the feasibility of moving to a new, bigger and better facility and is in the early stages of a capital campaign. The goal is for “a more pedestrian-friendly, family-oriented, multi-experience, energetic location,” Linda Quinn, executive director of the museum, said in a statement.

Mr. Sun has heard the museum could become a part of the city of Las Vegas’ Union Park development, west of downtown.

Questions for Mr. Sun should be sent to page8@lasvegassun.com.