down a hill. The remaining silver medals of honorees were melted down. Johnson & Jensen bought the remaining bronze medals, which they planned to sell at a deep discount. DASNY had allocated $2 million to fix the leaking roof and the walkway in 1981, though the National Endowment for the Arts rejected BCC's request for a $37,000 grant to repair the Hall of Fame. The hall was closed for repairs that year, reopening in 1985. Afterward, BCC created a promotional videotape and trained several tour guides. The state government also provided $165,000 to fund educational programs and new directors at the Hall of Fame. The surrounding neighborhood had started to improve by the late 1980s, though the Hall of Fame remained relatively obscure. The hall had only 1,000 annual visitors in 1987, excluding students on field trips, even though admission was free. In 1991, CUNY hired Ralph M. Rourke as the Hall of Fame's first director in more than a decade. Five busts remained to be installed because of a lack of funds, but Rourke hoped to install Barton's and Franklin D. Roosevelt's busts within a year. Roosevelt's bust was finally installed in July 1992. The William A. Hall Partnership was hired to restore the ceiling in 1992, and the Cavalier Renaissance Foundry restored 90 of the busts for about $40,000. Several conservators criticized the fact that the original finishes of these busts had been removed. The state provided $200,000 for the renovation; at the time, public contributions toward the hall's upkeep had ceased nearly entirely. The hall ultimately cost $1.3 million to restore; the project was completed in 1997. The next year, the Municipal Art Society gave BCC a preservation award for "outstanding building restoration". By the late 1990s, Rourke hoped to restart elections for the Hall of Fame. To accommodate additional honorees, Rourke proposed expanding the Hall of Fame into the Gould Library, as well as displaying short video clips instead of busts. Meanwhile, Rourke asked Brandeis University, the American Red Cross, and the Carnegie Foundation if they would respectively fund the busts of Brandeis, Barton, and Carnegie. All three organizations declined to donate $25,000 for each bust. 2000s to present In 2000, Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer offered a matching grant of $500,000 to fund further renovations, as well as the four unexecuted busts. To raise money for the hall's renovation and expansion, BCC organized a $1