Saturday, February 21, 2009

INTELLIGENCER JOURNAL

Headlined "Reduced to rubble, Square collapse nearly complete", the Feb. 21 article goes on to state:

"In the 1960s, it was called 'urban renewal.' In more recent years, it was called a 'concrete monstrosity.' In a few weeks, it will just be a memory."

WATCHDOG: In the past, city leaders ignored warnings that there would not be sufficient downtown business to support the Hilton Hotel and that the Hess Department Store would fail from lack of an urban market, which it did in less than two years.

What will the local Internet news report in twenty years when the wrecking ball is used on the idle convention center and the Marriott is converted into condominiums? (The newspapers will have long ceased publication)

Will they remember that S. Dale High, Sen. Gibson Armstrong, and publisher Jack Buckwalter ignored warnings from two marketing studies and the forebodings of the thorough feasibility report; one for profit, another for legacy, and the third for lack of competence?