At first, there seemed to be very little interest in placing these gems in an area that would be readily available to the public. The original considerations were: Pioneer Park behind City Hall, Charleston Park next to Google headquarters and Centennial Plaza next to the downtown train station.
Don Bahl and I both spoke vigorously before the Council on the need to have them placed in an area of much greater prominence and I even went so far as to suggest that it be placed on the plaza outside of City Hall and started a petition for it! The city then instructed the VAC to look for sites outside of the parks and publicly accessible and I thank the Council for taking that action.
There appeared to close to 100 people or perhaps more at today's dedication ceremony and I was thrilled to see that there were so many people that thought it was important enough to take time out of their day to be present for this very special event. It proved to me that most people see these portions of the wall as more than "two very ugly pieces of cement" as one person commented during a City Council meeting that I attended almost a year ago.
I am proud of the fact that we have them on display in a prominent place where generations to come can look at them, learn, and remember.
Jim Neal
Old Mountain View
