Between The Rock And A Dumb Place
San Francisco voters will have an initiative on the ballot today that calls for demolishing the second most popular tourist attraction in the city. The initiative calls for flattening Alcatraz and replacing it with – not making this up, folks – a "medicine wheel, a labyrinth and a conference centre for non-violent conflict resolution ." No, really.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – San Francisco voters will decide on Tuesday whether to remove the famous Alcatraz Prison visited by thousands of tourists a day and instead create a "global peace centre."
The proposition sharing the presidential primary ballot comes from the director of the California-based Global Peace Foundation who gives his name as Da Vid. He says transforming Alcatraz will "liberate energies, raising the whole consciousness of the Bay Area."
Supporters would like to raze the prison and build a medicine wheel, a labyrinth and a conference centre for non-violent conflict resolution. Volunteers collected 10,350 voter signatures last year to put it on the local ballot.
But even in a city long famed for its embrace of counterculture, many are sceptical about he plan.
"Perhaps we haven't reached the proper stage of enlightenment yet, but we're more inclined to support propositions with defined sources of funding attached to them," the San Francisco Chronicle said in an editorial.
Alcatraz is San Francisco's second-most popular paid tourist attraction after cable cars, luring 1.4 million visitors annually on a short ferry ride into San Francisco Bay.
The Chronicle's editorial is here and it is rather a lot more disdainful of the plan – and the new age nonsense in it - than the above quote indicates. Meanwhile, in other Bay Area news, two members of the city council are trying to get the board to rescind their patently anti-Marine policy letter.
A week after blasting the Marines as "unwelcome intruders" in Berkeley, two City Council members want the city to back off the declaration that ignited the wrath of the nation's right wing and inspired a Republican senator to try to sever Berkeley's federal funding.
Council members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli on Monday proposed that Berkeley rescind its letter to the U.S. Marine Corps that stated that the downtown Berkeley recruiting center "is not welcome in our city," and publicly declare that Berkeley is against the war but supports the troops.
The City Council will vote on Olds' and Capitelli's two proposals at its meeting next Tuesday.
"I think we shouldn't be seen across the country as hating the Marines," said Olds, who voted against last week's proposals. "If you make a mistake, like we did, you should admit it and correct it and move on."
The brouhaha started last week when the council passed two items condemning the Marine recruiting center on Shattuck Square, which opened about a year ago. The first called on the city clerk to send a letter to the Marines telling them they're unwelcome, and the second item granted Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office every Wednesday afternoon and allowed the group to operate a loudspeaker.
The lunatics are in charge of the asylum, apparently.
Other Links to this Post
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A Blog For All — February 5, 2008 @ 9:49 am
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Sister Toldjah — February 5, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
By Lt_Crunchy, February 5, 2008 @ 9:55 am
On 4 Feb 2008 I received this response from my email blasting the Berkeley city council members who voted for the traitorous resolution:
“Thanks for your email. Contrary to several newspaper reports, the City Council vote was 6-3 not 8-1.
I was one of the NO votes. I expect a correction to appear soon. Kriss W”
I now know that Kriss and Gordon and one other council member are patriots. Why can not the media get anything correct any more? I think Iowahawk is right about how dangerous they really are.
By Maggie, February 5, 2008 @ 10:13 am
“In Berkeley, push to rescind letter to Marines”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/05/BAHVUS06B.DTL
Yeah, we’ll see ….
By nyexpat, February 5, 2008 @ 10:38 am
I took my family out to Alcatraz 5 or 6 years ago. I seem to remember the ferry ride being around $20 per person, and you frequently need to reserve a spot, most of the ferries go over full. How many people do you suppose are going to pay the ferry fee plus whatever gate fee they have, to see a medicine wheel? I find it hard to believe that they will get more than a handful of votes for this one. All over California local governments are complaining of tax shortfalls. Alcatraz is run by the Federal government, the city actually makes money from the tourist draw.Compare this to pouring millions into building a facility that no one will use. Typical New Age thinking; build something and make everyone else pay for it.
By Lars Walker, February 5, 2008 @ 10:51 am
I fully expect that within my lifetime, some community in the Bay Area will hold a referendum on mass suicide, “for the good of the planet.”
“How dare you question my humanitarianism?”
By quilly mammoth, February 5, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I’m waiting for Brattlesboro to come from the ether.
By sam, February 5, 2008 @ 2:31 pm
If the residents of SF want to pay to tear down Alcatraz, then I say more power to them. If their tourist industry tanks because of it, well so what? As long as I don’t have to pay for it.
By NortonPete, February 5, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
The land of fruits and nuts. I visited Sf a few times, it was interesting, the best time I ever had was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and unexpectingly seeing a practice by the Blue Angels. Traffic was light and I just stop my car along with hundreds of others and watched them buzz the bridge. I’ve been to Alcatraz, so go ahead tear it down.
I don’t care if I ever see SF again, been there done that.
By Mockinbird, February 5, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
They could turn it into a gay-lesbian bathhouse; it’s already got the proper decor.