Nothing could have prepared me for the nauseating shock. I knew this day was

coming for nearly 20 years and still, it was like a kick in the teeth. We’ve lost something irreplaceable, something no other place had.

Worse, we sold it, gave it away for the profit of people who have no clue the wrong they have committed.

The next time you drive

east on Indian School and stop at the intersection with Louisiana, just north of I-40, you’ll see what I mean. That grand vista is gone

— forever. The building that destroys that view could house the cure for cancer and AIDS and the end of poverty — I still curse it. And

us for letting it happen.

More likely, it’s a Pottery Barn or some corporate crap that will soon be packed with soulless drones

looking for bargains on mass-produced trendiness. Enjoy your cheap shit. Don’t bother to look up when you get out of your car. It

doesn’t matter where you are.

What could have been our Central Park is now barely a step above a strip mall anywhere. Its feeble

attempt to look “cool” is like a well-dressed child molester.

When you hear people talk about the tragic loss of the Alvarado

Hotel downtown 30 years ago, this is what they’re talking about. It’s what happens when we neglect those things most precious and

unique to us. Now, one of the greatest vistas of the city has been destroyed in order to box in one of the already most polluted

intersections in the state. This ugliness is what you wanted, isn’t it? No? Tough shit — it’s what people with money and power want

that counts. mjh