Another Statistic

This is an old building in our city.  It is apparently the site of the cities worst fire in our cities history in 1949.  It has housed a tattoo parlor, a sporting goods store an probably way back when a brothel since so many of the old buildings in our town have at one time or another been a house of ill repute.

In spite of a fast response back in 1949, 7 people lost their lives and while the roof was replaced, from what I have read, the upstairs still resembles a burnt out shell with charred walls, the interior windows still remain broken and there was a large earthquake in 2001 that finished the building off so to speak.

Still when I look at this building past the moss encrusted walls, the busted out exterior windows, I can see the orante work that workers put into it so many years ago.  The curved windows, the carved granite of marble and this place has history.  One of the residents that was rescued the evening of the fire rushed back in for her purse that held less than $50 and died purse in hand.

This place is another blight on the streets in the town I live.  So many of these old buildings and the city doesn't care, they let them remain moss encrusted, dingy, dirty and uninviting.  If I didn't live here and know the people I know, I would be afraid to stop at all.  Downtown is beginning to turn around a bit, but the largest building in town called the Becker Building is just nasty and ugly looking.

We have so much water front in our area, there could be water front parks, RV parks, fishing and picnic areas as well as a really nice community center.  There is so much to offer business owners in this town, however it is very small and very closed minded and everyone here appears to be terrified of change.

Still, there goes a building that had zero jobs in it because it was condemned. There goes another old piece of this cities history, just another sad sad statistic!