Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Progress In Terre Haute?

I am in favor of progress and the idea of making money. Don't get me wrong, we need to better our work environment, blah blah blah.

I see that a local landmark is scheduled to be destroyed in favor of a parking lot! That's right, a parking lot to serve the new building which will replace another parking lot. (...)
Here's a picture of the building that is being razed. It's been around since 1890. Around here, it's a landmark! Since 1953, it's been the only home for Terre Haute's WTHI-TV and its radio stations.   During college, I worked in this building for an inglorious two years. Still, it's sad to see the place reduced to rubble.

In with the new!~

The new place, a McStructure, will be a three story building and will house the radio stations on a portion of the 3rd floor, but not the TV station. The new place will cost $5.7 million with the city kicking in $375,000. The city is gaga over the new building. Good for them. It shouldn't take long for them to recoup the money through property taxes.

Bottom line for me is that the old place is (for me) a landmark and should be left alone. It's been there for over 100 years and it's in good shape and it could be used for something.  This will be profitable for the out-of-state owners of the radio stations.  They sell their building, (make some $) then rent a small portion in the new building, then sell the radio stations! (Make some more $.)

I mention that the old building is in good shape, well, it is, except for the air conditioning system. When I worked there, it was on a part time basis. I've long suspected that full time exposure to the air conditioning in that building caused egos to expand to dangerous levels.

I may be wrong...but I don't think so.