MORE NARROW-MINDEDNESS -- THIS TIME IN BURTON, OHIO

We're finally getting around to stating our two-cents-worth regarding a story that's nearly a month old, now. Perhaps many of you -- if living in the northeast Ohio area -- are already familiar with the story. The Fire Department in Burton, Ohio -- a small community whose every attraction is directly or indirectly related to history -- has announced its intention to destroy a 140-year-old school building, which is located nextdoor to the fire-station and is owned by the Fire Department, so as to 'expand' its operation. You can find an article about this in the October 19th, 2005, edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The "best" part of this article is a quote from the Fire Chief, which is, as follows: "I'm all for preserving history, until it infringes on progress....We can't let an 1800s building get in the way of that." And that pretty well sums it all up, doesn't it? Essentially, this worship of the God of "Progress" is what has caused the destruction of historic architecture across the nation. Just what exactly is it about History that so many Americans find so 'unimportant'??

YET MORE SENSELESS DESTRUCTION ON EUCLID AVENUE

Perhaps by now, some of you may have heard of the so-called Euclid Avenue Corridor Project. It seems someone has this pipedream that if they "rebuild" Euclid Avenue, merchants will want their stores there and residents will want to live there. The 'crux' of this project is entirely related to new ideas our Regional Transit Authority has developed for buses running on Euclid Avenue. One of the primary concepts is a grass-&-trees median. To construct this and to maintain the number and width of the lanes, the street needs to be widened in many spots. As it turns out, some of the older buildings, built close to the street, are "in the way". Therefore, it was decided -- with the usual blessing of the Landmarks Commission -- that since this is a multi-million dollar project, these old buildings are absolutely expendable. The picture accompanying this posting was taken in October. It shows the 5700-block on the south side of Euclid. All of these buildings on this block -- four or five in total -- were given the go-ahead for demolition. The prominent building in the center is the Meriam Building, constructed in 1911 for Edmund Meriam, and designed by Cleveland architect Frank Skeel. All this wasteful destruction for a median. (NOTE: These buildings were demolished in January of 2006.)