Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:49 AM
Subject: FW: Dont tear down SPHS
Dear Dr. Teusher,
Maybe it's not an "all or nothing"
situation. When you take into
account the historical value of South
Park High School, you need to
factor in the intangible community pride that
the building brings to the
area and the city as a whole. A building
like that high school is not
something you can find just anywhere. The
architecture itself is worth
a spot in any guide book about Beaumont and
Southeast Texas. Maybe
there aren't enough students in the area, but
there is a University in
close proximity, the Beaumont Police Dept has a sub
station in South
Park, ExxonMobil is a neighbor. Maybe they would consider
contributing
to saving a historical site and all of these entities could
share in
it's restoration and/or use to make the building a prized piece
of
history for the whole town. Exxon is renting space in a
downtown
building for some of their office workers, maybe they could use some
of
SPHS for offices or training classes. Businesses, clubs and
individuals
are always looking for places to hold all types of events,
meetings,
classes, etc. Most of the South Park classes still hold
reunions.
Historical Preservation Groups may help out. These are just
suggestions
for options to consider before thinking about doing way with
that
gorgeous old building.
It would cost money to bring it
back up to standard, but it's not
really fair to just demolish it because of
past neglect on the part of
previous boards and administrations without
looking into alternatives
first. They've spent money on much less
deserving endeavors (and
salaries). BISD could use some positive press
right now and trying to
save a historical building for the good of the whole
city instead of
tearing down even more of a depressed area surely couldn't be
a bad
thing. We just can't measure the worth of that building and
it's
history in only dollars.
If we keep tearing down our history, how
will anyone ever know WHY
"Greenie Fight Never Dies"?
PS - I think one
of the reasons people are balking at talk of the cost
bond issue is the idea
that if they vote to spend money now, it won't
matter much, because one day
they or their children will be asked to
spend more to tear down something and
build something new.