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If the Coliseum is demolished, Corpus Christi will continue to function and exist. We can't forget that the Coliseum is a memorial to Veterans and embrace the opportunity to create a new, world-class memorial that becomes a statewide, if not nationwide, attraction.On Nov. 17, city council voted to pursue two parallel tracks with the Coliseum: begin the process of tearing it down WHILE AT THE SAME TIME negotiating publicly with the National Swim Center to renovate the Coliseum into a competitive swimming venue with a 325 room hotel and parking garage.
Elsewhere on this blog, I've discussed why the Swim Center is not correct for the Memorial Coliseum land. Here, I want to discuss the first track: tearing down the Coliseum. Change of any kind creates stress--some justified; some not. One justifable, uncomfortable element of this change can't be denied: if the Coliseum is now a memorial, how do you replace it?
Corpus Christi thinks small suffering from a populace that, generally, doesn't get out there and see things. Many of Corpus Christi's ills could be solved by getting 100% of the population on buses and shipping them out for visits to successful, growing cities. Education on what's 'out there' would wake our population up, finally, to realizing the potential of this city. They'd storm the castle demanding the destination bayfronts of Venice, CA, Miami, FL, Sarasota, FL, San Diego, CA, and Waikiki, HI.
Google Image the phrase 'Veterans Memorial'. Or simply click here, because I'm so nice I've done it for you. I'm not kidding. Click that link, and use a few minutes to take a look around at what Veterans' Memorials can be. Go ahead, I'll give you a few minutes.
The Memorial Coliseum, as a memorial to veterans, is disgraceful. ESPECIALLY SO when you see what successful memorials exist around the country. I do not understand the mentality of local veterans' groups who say the Memorial Coliseum is the best memorial possible--save it or duplicate it at any cost. I think they think that since this is what we have, we should keep it. This attitude, as well-meaning as it may be, actually has the opposite effect of their intent.
I believe our veterans are so important that the Memorial Coliseum simply isn't good enough for them. Don't believe me? Click here again!
We live in a world where things decay, things deteriorate, things become obsolete...change leaks in and requires things to be different. Unless you purposefully construct a building to last 1000 years (see the architecture of Paris, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC), a building will fall apart. It's not a mystery, it's not confusing, it's not a surprise.
Why, though, does the Corpus Christi population fight things as if we have the patent to stop physics and time? If we rally around the Coliseum hard enough, it will quit being a building in decline. If we get some petitions signed, we'll buck conventional wisdom and fly in the face of the population's wishes (as 10 people you don't know what we should do with the Coliseum). If we rally around a solid '3', we'll miss a potential '10' and we're fine with that. (?!)
When you hear of the Coliseum's inevitable demolition you can choose to fight it (because you have magical powers to keep the roof from deteriorating) or you can embrace the refreshing elixir of 'possibility'. The Coliseum can continue to be your cross to bear OR it can be the chance to honor our veterans correctly.
If the Memorial Coliseum is demolished, why not make it our mission to commemorate our veterans with an amazing, world-class Memorial? Why not put our passion into creating THE MEMORIAL that hosts every veterans ceremony in Texas due to its beauty, spope and magnetism?
Take a look at what real memorials look like around the country. The Coliseum is such a 'big issue', but those fighting for the coliseum are simply not thinking big enough.
Imagine...
Now, none of these may be our exact solution. These are what other communities did to commemorate their veterans.
Consider Fort Collins, CO, and their current campaign to create Veterans Plaza:
Read about their efforts here.
If the Memorial Coliseum is demolished, we can embrace the empty canvas of that land and create something our Veterans deserve.
Imagine a ceremony in 2012 where all of our State government delegate are in attendance along with veterans group delegates from every major Texas city. We unveil our new memorial and jaws drop. The perception of our ineptitude in 'getting things done' vanishes on the spot. Tourists and citizens pause during their visit to embrace this new area's beauty and purpose. It could be incredible.
OR we could invite everyone to the Memorial Coliseum and gracefully accept their polite decline.
We are in a sad state of affairs when OCEAN DRIVE TRAFFIC IS RE ROUTED due to pieces of the "Memorial" Coliseum blowing off the building rendering driving or walking anywhere around it unsafe. TEAR IT DOWN, we are a laughing stock. The Veterans deserve better than a dilapidated building. Next thing you know, we will need to build a memorial for those injured by flying pieces of the building!
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