Quote:
Originally Posted by flar
...Other places have learned to value their built environment and history. They understand these things are what makes a city.
|
The idea that any city would allow the loss of buildings like these is bizarre.
I have not lived here long enough to be completely jaded, and am quite willing to get involved to stop the wrecking ball. It seems to me that broad-based civic action is needed, based on a strategy that has a hope of succeeding.
There are immediate steps needed to be taken:
1). Get the facts: can the wrecking ball start swinging without approval? Are the staff and politicians at city hall sitting on their hands?
2). Quickly building a coalition -- a network of community-based groups, opinion leaders, historical societies, etc. To be blunt, the wealthy residents of the city must be appealed to for their support.
3). Get the story out to the wider mainstream media, which could put this whole thing under a microscope; shaming politicians for being willing participants in the impending destruction would help.
4). Get the residents of the "lower city" better informed and engaged. How about a petition table set up in Gore Park?
5). Call for a public meeting to kickstart a campaign to stop the destruction.
I'm willing to get involved; I just don't know people to contact.
Ideas? Comments?