Moody Amphitheater
Please Help Bring Attention to July 21 Cover Story
RECEIVED Fri., Aug. 4, 2006
Dear Editor,
It is with a heavy heart that I write to urge you to do everything in your power to help save the buildings and the businesses on Congress between Second and Third streets, including Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, Tesoros Trading Company, and Escuelita de Alma [“My Migas, My City,” News, July 21]. I support growth, but I am a firm believer that growth and development should happen in a thoughtful way that preserves the character and livability of our great little city. It is precisely places like these businesses in their lovely old buildings that entice the people here to stay here and the people not here to come here. What a shame to lose that charm and those local landmarks. It is not enough for those businesses to relocate to another location or to move into a newer building on the same spot. As tasty as the food is at Las Manitas, what makes it such a great place is the building and the atmosphere.
There is no need to destroy these buildings in order to build a hotel on the property. We have seen numerous examples, in our own Downtown, where new buildings are built around historical ones. The same could happen here.
Please help bring attention to this story. We should not allow our town to become a bland, homogeneous speck on the map, no different from every other place that does not hesitate to mow down green spaces or charming landmarks in the name of development. Our city should grow in a way that enhances who we are and what people love us for instead of destroying that very thing.
It is with a heavy heart that I write to urge you to do everything in your power to help save the buildings and the businesses on Congress between Second and Third streets, including Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, Tesoros Trading Company, and Escuelita de Alma [“My Migas, My City,” News, July 21]. I support growth, but I am a firm believer that growth and development should happen in a thoughtful way that preserves the character and livability of our great little city. It is precisely places like these businesses in their lovely old buildings that entice the people here to stay here and the people not here to come here. What a shame to lose that charm and those local landmarks. It is not enough for those businesses to relocate to another location or to move into a newer building on the same spot. As tasty as the food is at Las Manitas, what makes it such a great place is the building and the atmosphere.
There is no need to destroy these buildings in order to build a hotel on the property. We have seen numerous examples, in our own Downtown, where new buildings are built around historical ones. The same could happen here.
Please help bring attention to this story. We should not allow our town to become a bland, homogeneous speck on the map, no different from every other place that does not hesitate to mow down green spaces or charming landmarks in the name of development. Our city should grow in a way that enhances who we are and what people love us for instead of destroying that very thing.
Lisa Rawlinson