“It is finished,” Mayor Randy Hawes says about the demolition of the observatory.
This is not finished as far as people of Mission are concerned. I know this has been commented on a lot, but seeing the actual physical destruction of such potential stimulated me to write about this topic.
Hawes has finally achieved the destruction of the observatory with a victorious “it is finished.”
The physical building is destroyed, but the ideas and values behind it are not destroyed and this council will forever be remembered as the council who simultaneously caused the destruction of an educational building and the hopes and dreams of a dedicated group of volunteers.
This council must be the only politicians ever to simultaneously dismantle a group of committed, hardworking volunteers and replace them with paid employees, and destroy an observatory.
The mayor is proud of his council for standing firm despite “pillorying.” The dictionary definition of pillory is “a wooden framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used to expose an offender to public derision.”
Pillorying is defined as “to expose to public contempt, ridicule or scorn.”
In a democratic society, is it really pillorying when the community who elected you expresses their democratic right to oppose unpopular decisions? Apparently the mayor thinks it is and is proud of Mission council for standing firm on this very unpopular and frankly embarrassing decision to destroy the observatory.
Governments who stand firm against the wishes of their community thankfully do not last long.
The observatory is demolished, the mayor says it is finished, we are moving on.
You have destroyed a physical structure and the hope of the community. The mayor and council may move on but the community will not. Destruction is easy; building up good will is not.
Anne Kent
Mission