Quote:
Originally Posted by tworivers
OK, first of all, even the Midway is enormous in scale -- the Wiki picture of it docking in San Diego is striking. I wonder if there are any renderings that show how the ship might look docked at terminal 1? Where will it be visible from in the city? What will its presence feel like?
I also recognize that vessels like this can be and have been used for non-war-making activities. However, their primary purpose is and has been war. I don't necessarily want to get into a big political discussion about the history/underpinnings/results of modern warfare, but I am curious about how the history will be presented to those who are interested (including me).
I guess, to be honest, my nightmare scenario involves an out-of-scale military rah-rah attraction that specifically appeals to right-wing yahoos who will end up tooling around our bike- and people-clogged central city streets in their RV's. The kind of tourists who will not be especially interested in exploring the aspects of the city that currently attract visitors -- the local flavor, farmers markets, Pittock Mansion, Powells, restaurants, etc etc etc... activities that inject money directly into the local economy. I don't mean to imply that I think that it is going to be like this, or paint an overly black-and-white demographic picture, just that when I think about the potential negatives, that's pretty much what it looks like. According to Wiki, almost 900,000 people visited the Midway in its first year. Granted, SD is a military town, but even if this ship attracts half that number every year, I wonder where they are going to park (assuming, hopefully wrongly, that the majority of them will be arriving by car) and how traffic patterns will be affected.
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"military rah-rah attraction that specifically appeals to right-wing yahoos"
Are you kidding me???? Why would you say that??? I am incredibly offended by that comment. Do you see a lot of these types of people at the USS Iowa in Pearl Harbor? How about the Midway in San Diego or the Intrepid in New York City? Let's bring it closer to home. Do you see a lot of these types of people at the Air Museums in McMinnville or Tillamook? Of course not. What you do see at these venues are families, air enthusiasts, veterans, history buffs, and the like.
Would you be bothered if our bike filled streets were visited upon by the wives, mothers, sons and daughters of the men whom died serving aboard the USS Ranger?
Whom are the "Militaristic right wing yahoos" exactly that you are referring to? Current or former US servicemen and women? Republicans? Tea-baggers? Last time I checked this was a free country, and while these folks may be objectionable to you, they are entitled to visit and live in our fair city, just the same as you and me. I can see objections to locating this ship to Portland on aesthetic or political grounds, but attacking or US Service Personnel and their supporters is WAY, WAY, WAY out of bounds!
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Unfortunately for you, yours sucks.