Well, that was interesting: a meeting of the commission responsible for the upkeep of this canopy. Notice how beautiful it is, with dramatic lighting and a photographic eye, in the photo one post below. Notice how it looks like a rotting building in the photo immediately below. This is lesson in perception: you see what you are looking for; a photo shows what the photographer wants to reveal. Both pictures are true, but they are from different points of view. One photo was created for emotional and aesthetic impact. Another was created to give a technical viewpoint.
I have a theory about life that all young people need to serve on a local newspaper for a year. This would be like Israeli youth going into the army for two or three years. Unless you go for an internship in your congressman’s office or city government, the only way to get actual experience in civics is to cover local government meetings like this. I think this is important because most people have opinions about how the world should work. particularly the government. with no actual experience in what it takes to make even small things happen.
Here is what I learned today. This overhang was added to these 19th century buildings about 32 years ago. This is in a section of New York State that is in its quadricentennial year. Stone houses are scattered around this part of town and you can catch glimpses of how it was as a settlement.
So this is an old, old historic part of the United States; truly, an historic treasure. The Brits burned this city not once but twice during the Revolutionary War. It must be special. (British Major General John Vaughan, who led one invasion, justified the destruction of the city because it was “a nursery for almost every villain in the country.”)
There are 40 property owners involved, whose buildings touch this canopy. All of them pay an annual property tax to maintain the structure, though obviously the funds don’t go far. The thing covers all of three city blocks; one long lock and two short ones.
There’s about $1.8 million in the budget for all improvements to this little uptown area. Most or all of it would be devoted to this one improvement. After four years, most members of the commission are ready to go ahead with the project. Yet two weeks away from getting a cost estimate from the architects, with a couple of exceptions, they had not even cut into the structure to see how much internal damage there is. In other words, their architectural plans were based on a superficial assessment of the existing structure.
Property owners asked how exactly a cost overrun would be handled. Most projects run over budget, and renovation has a particular reputation for being extremely costly. (It’s one reason why we tear down so many old buildings in the United States, but I have another theory, for another day.) The chair of the commission had no answer to that question, except to say that it would not run over. One of the owners said that he used to restore old houses, and you never know what you’re going to find until you cut the thing open everywhere and see what condition each small section is in.
Others noted that four years ago, they were told that removing the thing was not an option. A city councilman who is on the commission and in favor of keeping the canopy in place said that in the commission’s charter, all they have to do is maintain the thing; the charter says nothing about removing it. In all of those four years, nobody had looked at the impact on business of having the thing there. There is a concern (as you can see in the photo above) that the canopy throws a shadow over the businesses; retail owners know, and apparently, plenty of studies have shown, that the key to retail success is visibility. But nobody looked at this issue. The main reason anyone wants to keep the canopy is because they like it; without understanding the impact that it may have.
I sat there listening, the whole time thinking: all we’re really trying to do is fix a canopy. Not a country, an economy, or the world. The people with an investment in keeping the thing — which seems to be mainly for sentimental reasons, or because it looks quaint — had no actual information about the impact, renovation cost or purpose of the structure; but they were ready to commit to a costly renovation project with no backup plan if it ran over budget.
Now, transpose this onto Washington DC. Imagine a group of politicians invested in the past working with no real information making decisions on a much vaster scale that future generations will pay for; but where the impact of those decsion on the future has not even been considered.
The meeting is still going on. Everyone there had to take time off from their business to show up, which can be a real sacrifice if you have a schedule, given how many meetings there are and now little happens at each one of them. So I ask you: how are we going to fix our country, or fix the world?
What motivation would anyone have to get involved?
It’s so annoying, really.
Last year Burbank planted trees with huge Arbor Day ceremony and all in park across the street – in which it is illegal to play “organized sports” city code is posted.
Trees were meant to nicely say “don’t break law, don’t play here” – but what happened – trees were stealthy pulled up again in the night by the CITY OF BURBANK because – what? a firefighter (city civil servant!!) complained – he wanted to be able to watch his kid play ball while he’s at work……
so we’re back to no trees and of course the park is not outfitted with restrooms etc so all the urination is done onto the lawns/from the back of cars….
I tried HARD to go up against this but well – I hate politics and politicians and in this little town, they are all playing on the same team. So stupid. And I got over 100 signatures in only a few hours from residents asking the city to “replant the trees”…..to no avail.
So – now I’m focused on getting the local elementary school to use the park for victory gardens – we’ll see how THIS one goes……..’cause I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore? LOL!
Nice connecting of dots from 118 Main Street to Planet Earth in the balance.
So many opinions, so little actual knowledge or participation aka debate occurs – this is why blame/victim so prevalent and continuing problem 8 years after fact. It really only takes one person to change something, BUT, and its a big BUT, that person must do ALL the research and follow through via clear communication.
Patagonia’s story of how they came to get involved in world environmental issues is a case in point and readable on their website when the waterway behind their first office in the Bay Area was threatened.
It’s also kind of like the media and groups snowing us with sex scandals when the real scandal is folks being mutilated or abused at home and abroad, so, we never get to the real issues underlying our fears about the core issue, by my example, individual sexuality.
By article, example, money and costs.
I’ve done this kind of work for about 5 years. Not only are they improving the facades based on design schematics and will undoubtedly come upon structural issues along they way, but look deeply into who is paying for these improvements. Chances are there’s a landlord, an investment property owner, and he hasn’t put a plug nickle into that building for decades. The State is going to come along and pay for at least half of the cost of renovations, and then the remainder will be passed onto the tenant. Meanwhile property values will increase and the increased taxes based on new assessments are again passed onto the tenant. This is called a triple net lease and is at the core of the erosion of urban retail districts across the country.
Sometimes its easy to blame big box stores and national chains for the decline of Main Street USA, but personal property rights, and run-away capitalism at the local level have just as much burden to carry.
Lorrie