Post office parcel is a gift from our past, Lisa Gray, ChronBlog
How different was Houston in 1962? Imagine this: People were thrilled about a big, expensive new post office. In 1962 Texas, big and expensive were always good. And post offices were important.
For months, the city's newspapers reported breathlessly on the complex under construction at 401 Franklin, at the north edge of downtown.
"The House That 4-Cent Stamps Built," as a headline in the old Houston Press dubbed the "rambling, palatial structure," was believed to be the most modern post office in the country. More than five miles of conveyor belts would carry mail inside the enormous long, low factorylike block where mail would be sorted - a place "so big that electric scooters are being provided for executives to make their rounds."
If the nannies that be won't let Houston rid itself of this eyesore then there's not much left to do.
The building is ugly.
The building is NOT old. (50 years is not old)
The building is useless.
This is the same kind of thinking that's preventing us from blowing up the Astrodome and replacing it with a parking garage. It's this mentality that's holding Houston back, a mentality that's pretty recent in nature and used to not stand in the way of things getting done.
What made Houston great was its business climate and the ability to get things done. There are several in Houston, most of Ms. Gray's political ilk, that are working as hard as they can to undo both of these things.
Yet they want to work hard to protect an eyesore.
Houston's opinion-driving class is in worse need of a re-do than is this building. Unfortunately, given the state of the former newspaper of record, this ain't happening any time soon.
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