enforcement for companies who abandon these properties? does the government truly go after them? or is it too much trouble and they just let these become giant rust buckets? guest: corporate america is very smart and they find ways to walk away and dismiss significant liability. in new bedford there was a contaminated site causing all kinds of health problems for this immigrant neighborhood and the people rose up and demanded from local politicians to do something. the local politicians went to the state attorney general to find the owner. it went all the way up to viacom which owns cbs. it was ultimately responsible. so, now they're paying. that situation is not common.

host: what is on the front cover? guest: that is in youngstown, ohio. it was a major steel- manufacturing capital until the 1970's. you have at least five or six major steel plans unused. host: is this site still a band? guest: yes. host: the last call comes from florida. caller: what is your thought on independent, private bidders? guest: my assessment is that in youngstown one of the biggest, growing industries is dismantling. but they are making a lot of

money taking them down and selling the steel. host: justin hollander, author of "polluted and dangerous, america's worst of an improper visabandoned properties." we will look at the congressional meetings this week. the trip next guest will be david hawkins, come monday. the next two guests will also be with us, the last is an author talking to was about the labor movement. thank you for joining us for this edition. we will see you again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] .

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>> today on c-span, a health care town hall meeting with democratic senator, mark warner, that's at 6:30 p.m. here on c-span. >> 70th anniversary start of world war ii, tonight presenters at 9 eastern and pacific on c-span. >> joining us on "newsmakers" is wayne clough, he's the secretary of the smithsonian institute, mr. clough, let me ask about the funding for the

smithsonian, about 35% from government sources, the stock market is struggling and debt increase, are you looking for other sources of funding? >> we are, we want to be more self-reliant, there was a budget challenge even before the economic recession. we think we have come through the recession pretty well. we had an increase in attendance, we are a wonderful bargain for the american people, because we are free. and we have had some increase and had some tightening of the belt. and now the question is how to deal with the long-term economics. and we can through grants and contracts and fill -- fill --fill philanthropy. >> can you think of any time

you would charge admission? >> no, that's not part of our thinking, when i see the families and the wonderful smiles on the faces there. and the people come multiple times. that's a great thing for the american people. and at all costs if we can keep free admission, we should try. >> stacey, first question. >> you had this job for more than a year, when can you think about in the scandal of congress and then the financial challenges as well. what made you want to do this? >> i have always been a glass kind of full kind of guy, and those things you cited represented an opportunity for me, to do something good of an institution that's fundamentally sound and to

correct things. the idea was to get morale back and to get people to think about the future, instead of dwelling on the past. and we worked on that, and it's been a fun experience. partly for me, i will never take a job unless i think i am learning something. and this was a great opportunity for someone that's a scientist or engineer, and to indulge my other loves, art, history and culture. and in addition i felt this was an opportunity to serve the american people. we are the nation's museum. and i had a wonderful experience in higher education, and here at the smithsonian we are an educational institution and it's young people and educating that whole spectrum. >> you talked about how your background as an engineer was

helpful, can you talk about how this has come into play? >> the smithsonian as you know is an institution with a lot of moving parts. not just a museum, but it's science based and study rain forest and climate change in addition to the arts and history and culture. thinking about this as a system and how does it add up? how can we take the parts and put them in a way to make surprising things happen. that engineering background has helped me and my curiosity. >> brett of the associated press. >> you have been a long-time professor and how does that translate into your new ).vcour at the smithsonian over the next 10 years? >> the smithsonian is an educational institution, it's about discovery and research

scholarship and we help translate that knowledge to visitors that come from around the world. and having come from a public university, that was helpful. because they deal way lot of constituents and broader area than a private. and that was useful, and how connected we are in this mission of our state, and is something you can get better because of that experience. and i love to be around young people too, and the key is to be around young people and we see that at at smithsonian. we had over a thousand young people at the smithsonian. >> do w#hyou want to make the smithsonian a bigger priority? >> not a bigger priority, we want them to know that we do

that, most sciences over the time at the smithsonian moved off, like the national>>. -- zoo. and the secretary was interested in breeding the buffalo, and some said that's messy and that's where other branches came from. and we have areas in the west and east and all over the world. there are wonderful things that the smithsonian does in science that w%8eneeds to be available the public. and we use the internet as a device to connect that to the american people. >> can we talk more about that, what is your vision of technology and how museums have to change. there are a lot of young people that don't think you have to go physically to a museum when you have kind it on the internet. >> that's an interesting

question, we are having focus groups, museums reach typically 10% of the public, and what about the other 85%, and when the young people feel they don't have to go to these classical institutions , reaching them is important, and through the internet is a process, but we need to think like that do i. and i have been visiting with focus groups to learn that.fcwm >> what resistance do you see in the staff? do people not like that thinking about technology, sometimes that's a cultural change? >> good question, i found at smithsonian they are creative and the benefit of what they want to get accomplished. and don't ignore the fact that we will have 29 million people

visiting the mesums. -- museums, and how do you use technology to enhance the physical visit, and how do you use technology to connect people who otherwise may not be connected at all. >> looking into the future, what do expect the museum experience to be like in 10 years? >> we have talked about that, and feel that technology will enhance that and the displays will be important. we talk about it being a learning journey, if we can get people to use this as a communication vehicle, two way, they ask questions and we respond. before the visit and find out what the new exhibits are. and then when they get to the smithsonian their visit will be more informed and they may have

a hand-held device to tell them where they need to go, some nooks are hard to find. yet it's a treasure to do that, and after they leave they can connect with maybe our curator, we see that as a larger, more rich experience. >> you were brought on board because of resignation of mr. small and in large part because of the overspending, how did that happen and what has changed? >> i think that the regions have changed after resignation of mr. small, and they did many right things, and this happened at universities 10 years ago, we were nonprofit and realized you needed oversight and better accountability, because you have a million dollar budget, you need to manage it well, and need to be good stewards, and

put in a system and framework of policies for oversight and accountability, and we are still implementing those. but the policies are all in place, and the regents are in tune, and that subset of these activities have created a new organization. >> can you give us one example? >> we have new travel policies, and i have to get approval before my travel, which is a good thing. as a university president i had to do this also, so there is more check and balances and oversight, and be sure you do the right thing. >> stacey. >> in search of private money,

how can you be successful in food kitchens and other needs, how do you say as a donor that the institution is important? >> that's a good question, people love the smithsonian and see themselves as part of it, folks, when you work with a donor, grthey will have local causes, they will want to give to universities and schools and churches. but they like to have a national cause. if they make a contribution to the country in a national way, the smithsonian is a logical way to do that. because we represent the whole country. >> have you raised money to deal with the renovation needs, there are crumbling buildings, people don't like to give to that but to exhibits.

>> this is a good year, we have a goal before the economic recession, but when we look at our colleagues in the fill -- fill -philantropic world, we know that contacts make good donations and we have to tell our story better, and then i am confident that these problems will resolved. >> is the smithsonian providing other things such as the channel? >> we still have the smithsonian channel, it's not all there, not everyone has hd-tv, we have enriched this into the contract and showtime

is open. i feel good about it, when you watch the smithsonian channel, it's a great experience. we need to enrich it and work with new media. because there is the youtube and this concept, where we want to connect to that next generation. they may not be watching tv, but watching youtube, so we using other ways to reach people. >> what kind of changes have you made at the smithsonian, any changes to set the new vision into motion? >> one thing i said from the beginning, we needed to do a significant planning exercise, and i saw that from the moral question, and our job is to focus on the future. and to focus on the future in a unique way. the smithsonian if we are

lucky, will be here 1,000 years from now. we have been around as an institution 163, we started looking long-term in our planning with short-term horizons. and we got the people together talking to each other, and it was a fun exercise. this was a very intensive, bottom-up exercise, we brought in people from outside, other museums and organizations, to tell us what they thought. that's being wrapped into a strategic plan now and it's exciting. >> you talked about reaching to young people, but i know another priority is to make sure that ók6the smithsonian is diverse and representing what this country is about and attractive to as many people as possible. what have you done specifically to attract people to museums? >> first we need to recognize that 30 years from now, this

country won't have any minority. we need to approach that for our collections that will prepare us for that period. we need to get ahead of that wave. we have a great opportunity, we are building the museum of native american and latino and american interest group. we have the resources to speak to this piece already. we need to engrain this, and there is an executive committee, which i chair, that meets four times a year, to think diversity. when you do an exhibit, think diversity, should there be a disversity component that you should speak to. >> you talked about attendance up this year despite the

recession. do you attribute this to the uptick of the "night at the museum"? >> well, one was the presidential inauguration, and we had thursday -- thousands in four days. and the night at the museum is a great family movie. but we had some great new exhibits that brought people in, and the economy being what it is, and we are free, we are a great place to go. we want to be sure when people get there, they have a great experience. >> back to the record experience, are there any reasons you would charge

admission? and why not? >> we are not thinking about that , because of things we can do in our mission. there are places in contract research, we have not recovered the cost we should be recovering. we will do those things first. there is no question in my mind that we can will be able to rectify our house, first telling our story better, and to hold the people on the hill accountable, and with our planning we will create a voice. and that is important for the goals, to increase our ability to serve the american people and in fact the world. >> can you talk about your favorite things at the smithsonian are, what do people not know about and miss visiting? >> there is a lot of those, i

every week schedule something that's different than what an average person would do. just recently i went to the botany department and they laid out these incredible plants, hundreds of thousands that document these species. and the beauty is they collected them for years, and now can do dna studies and do an interpretation if these species will survive and that's connected to our survival. so talking to these people that collect these all over the world, is fascinateing to me. >> you talked about wanting the smithsonian and the science to be a major player of the big issues today, such as climate change. do you worry about wading into political waters since congress is right next door? >> that's a good question, we at the smithsonian, our

position is to do our best of honest brokers, we are not evangelist on one side or other. we want to present information so people can make up their own minds. climate change hasn't happened yet, and it's a prediction part. i was in a botanist area and 500 years and when it was happening, and i hit the rock with a hammer, and there is palm leaves, and it was warmer. our job is to try to provide

solid information to help people understand the story. it's a complex story because carbon comes from a lot of different places. >> how can you trace the time frame from 55 to 35? >> 55 is based on data, and you can date those profiles and measure the carbon isotopes in the layers, and see the types of carbon and the sources. and that was the time that mammals were beginning to make a run after the dinosaurs were gone. and mammals came in and some survived were really tiny. there were horses the size of cats, and you can see a lot of interesting things going on in that period. >> one thing you didda georgia

tech was nationalize that institution, how do you see that happen at the smithsonian? is it global or should be one? >> it is in a way, we have activities that represent physical platforms in panama or chile where we have great telescopes, and we monitor the health of creatures and how they interact in kenya and so forth. the but the interesting thing is a twist on an earlier question, we are more international in the sciences than in history, arts and culture. we should have a balance. there is a case with history, arts and culture need to increase their profile. we are working with the state department to help them in building ties to other countries. >> what might that entail? >> it may entail artists

traveling abroad, performing jazz if you will. we had one of the top people in the museum in egypt, they are going to build a science museum. they were here to see how to build science museums and we are the experts in that, and helped them understand how to run a museum complex. >> you talked about a little challenges, and that's a big one of 1.5 million, as well -- have you been able to create stimulus on that number? >> first as an engineer, that number intrigued me, i wondered how big it got there. that was a plan to address over time the continuing maintenance and revitalization issues.

we haven't changed that plan, we are still looking at that plan, and want to get those maintenance dollars and revitalization projects. we have rationalized it, and stimulus plans, we have made all the commitments that need to be made, and we are ahead of it. if you go to the grand old arts and businesses and you will see scaffolding, and we have issues that are close to a safety issue. >> it's not just the building itself but those in them who make it alive. do you have scholarly issues, of the number of people who work at the museum, are you able to rebuild that? >> that's a fundamental issue,

the real issue is the continuous trend, and those have been downward. as we are asked to absorb higher energy costs, it comes out of the total budget that impacts the budget that we put in people. we have lost over 600 people in permanent workforce. we have more volunteers than workforce, and thank god for them. but we need permanent staff and we need to come to this stabilization point, and not declining and have the ability to sustain ourselves and going to next thousand years to do this. >> you have referred to the smithsonian as america's attic. >> i wouldn't say america's attic. >> ok, treasure, is there something showcased that is not currently?

in our collections. and i don't use the word attic, because that's things that aren't used, because the smithsonian is active place. >> what is in storage that you want to showcase? >> all the things that we keep maintained in temperature control to preserve them. we need to let the american people see them, who own them. and at any given time you have seen 1%, if you go to all the museums. so the objective is to say, let's make it available. we shouldn't hide anything, we want to provide context through our curators and scholars, because each has a story. and the objective way is to use the web to get them out and build an educational program to ai