Posted by Jim Neal
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Jan 18, 2013 at 10:29 am
Jim Neal is a registered user.

I was at this meeting on Tuesday and it was a good reminder of why I ran for office in the first place! There were audible gasps of shock when Ronit Bryant referred to these National Treasures as "two very large pieces of ugly cement". It appears to me that there are some on the council that do not understand the history and the struggle represented by these sections of the wall. It is like calling Yellowstone Park "A bunch of dirt filled with firewood" or Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech "a bunch of words spoken by some Black guy".

The fact is that this is a historic monument that we are very lucky to have and I think it should be given a place of honor and given the highest protection possible. I suggested that the Wall section be placed on City Hall Plaza, but the excuse was that the plaza will not support the weight. I think with some reinforcements installed underneath, it should not be a problem. After all, the plaza already supports a large fountain filled with water!

As to the other locations, I think the Transit center would make the second best choice since it is well lighted at all times and there is a constant presence of people to discourage vandalism.

The park ideas are bad because they are deserted at night and would just scream for someone to deface the monuments since as we have seen, some people place no value on them.

The wall symbolizes what happens when the government controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens and to me, that kind of control is uglier than any wall could ever be.

Jim Neal
Old Mountain View