John West Wrote:
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> Spin is a loaded word with all kinds of negative
> connotations. I don't think Nan or the Friends
> are putting any kind of "spin" on what they are
> saying, more likely it is difficult for them to
> verbalize clearly a bunch of very intuitive and
> judgemental trade-offs. We're not dealing with a
> simple 1 plus 1 equals 2 kind of issue, it is much
> more a matter of esthetics. There is plenty of
> room for reasonable people to disagree here, but
> my suggestion would be lets give all parties the
> benefit of the doubt and assume they are simply
> trying to communicate as best they can and we
> should ask honest but tough questions in the same
> spirit.
> JBWX
John, maybe spin does have a negative connotation, but honestly the Friends way of going about communicating their projects does have a very similar parallel to current politics and what I see in the organization hierarchy. You hit the nail on the head as to why I am reacting so negatively to the RVC North yard proposal. It is all too much based on a small group of people with a particular agenda whose judgment and intuition we are asked to accept.
Constructing a building is about engineering, financing and operational practicalities. Yes esthetics will be part of the design but first you do need to have a "punch list" of specific attributes of each site to evaluate each objectively. What is so difficult about producing the documentation of this criteria? The Friends haven’t even communicated to their own membership what the long term financial costs are to operate an RVC let alone the rationale for the site selection. I no longer have the patience to give the Friends the “benefit” or “assume” that some of their actions are in the best interests of historical preservation. I think there was a real benefit in the Triad relationship that has been diluted with the current management arrangement. The work the Friends do (and have done over the years) has been tremendous to preserving and supporting the railroad, there is no argument on this. What I want to see is the Friends be an advocate of historic preservation first, for without preserving what we still have left the interpretation is just going to end up being a slide show of your fine photographs “of the way it was”.
Rod Jensen
