O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas

California . . . its death spiral explained.

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/08/10/ever-wonder-why-california-is-so-broke/

Looks like a pretty cool building to me:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_One_(Mountain_View,_California)

While I don't think the govt (muni/state or federal) is in any position fiscally to be spending money to restore it, tearing it down would be a mistake from my limited vantage point. I certainly can see why there would be many who would like it to be preserved.

"The hangar is a symbol of our will to reach beyond our grasp," wrote U.S. Navy veteran Clayton Lambert of Palo Alto. "It is an Art Deco symbol of the birth of Silicon Valley. It is important to keep it, as a big reminder of our ability to realize our dreams ... even if they are bigger than life."

Unfortunately, while I agree with the Navy Veteran and what it represents about their "past", what tearing it down really says "now" is that the U.S. is no longer dreaming bigger than life dreams and they are unable to realize much at all because of the anchor of debt aroung their necks.

$32M for siding? What are they using for construction materials, gold bricks?

It's probably $30M for the environmental impact assessment and $2M for the siding.

Tear it down. If the folks from Mountain View want to see a dirigible hangar they can travel to Akron and see one built at the same time....and it's currently being used by a private corporation as originally designed.

Tear it down. If the folks from Mountain View desire to view a dirigible hangar, they can travel to Akron, Ohio, and view a similar structure (the Goodyear Airdock) currently being used for the originally as-constructed purpose, not wasting my tax money.

That brings up an interesting point, bullnuke. Why not sell the hanger to a private industry that would preserve it's esthetic appearance?

Not meaning to nit pick or anything, but isn't saying "saint of San Andreas", like saying "saint of saint Andrew"?

I think they should save it. The "stimulus" from the 32 million dollar siding contract, handed out to a well-connected company,complete with kickbacks,can easily be strung out to a 52 million dollar contract,providing jobs for maybe fifty workers.

And everyone will feel GOOD.

Allah almighty, don't these people have ANY idea? In capital letters; YOU'RE BROKE! THERE"S NO GODDAMNED MONEY!

Ah yes - asbestos cleanup - sounds so virtuous. It means breaking
open walls etc. and exposing asbestos, some of which will be
dispersed by the process. It is difficult to contain fine dispersates. They will travel.

The sensible thing to do is to apply paint, lots of paint, and keep
applying paint whenever and wherever there is wear.

But we know that greens are stupid and ignorant, and care nothing for the health of others,
so long as their hobbyhorses are getting attention.

Amazingly, I was just there. That's an awesome building, and a very preservation-worthy piece of aviation history. Also pretty useful for research that needs a large space of still air.

The actual crux of the problem with the building is the ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS, which currently require the building to be stripped to the metal frame and re-built to as-new condition before anyone is allowed to use it.

Which is insanity, of course. Removal of contaminated soil (ancient rocket fuel, very bad) plus at most a sandblast and re-paint of the interior structure to a height of maybe 20ft would be more than sufficient. And affordable.

Which is why California is going broke, and why Davenport arguing that enviro-regulations are SO worth it cracks me up every time.

You guys should see the freakin' bicycle lanes in Mountain View. Every street has them, super special road lines and signs and stop lights and blinky signals and on and on... and NO BICYCLES.

Truly they deserve to go stony friggin' broke.

Brian Gardiner said: "$32M for siding? What are they using for construction materials, gold bricks?"

Brian, that building is so big you can't believe it even when you stand next to it. If you stood a 747-400 on its tail, with the wings out sideways it wouldn't come close to the sides of the front door. People have flown full sized aircraft inside it, by which I mean taken off, turned, and landed.

The worthy question is, why does the siding have to be replaced? The answer is, because some IMBECILE decided he'd like to have the kick-backs on a contract for $32 million bucks worth of siding, and arranged that "environmental standards" require the existing siding be replaced. That's why.

"Not meaning to nit pick or anything, but isn't saying "saint of San Andreas", like saying "saint of saint Andrew"?"

No Minuteman San Andreas is a fault line in California. The Catholics love to have patron saints. I don't know if the San Andreas fault has a patron saint but if it does it would be nice if the patron saint would cause the San Andreas fault to release sufficient energy to waken California from its idiocy.

Ah yes - asbestos cleanup - sounds so virtuous. It means breaking
open walls etc. and exposing asbestos, some of which will be
dispersed by the process. It is difficult to contain fine dispersates. They will travel.

The sensible thing to do is to apply paint, lots of paint, and keep
applying paint whenever and wherever there is wear.

But we know that greens are stupid and ignorant, and care nothing for the health of others,
so long as their hobbyhorses are getting attention.

Until May last year, I lived in Mountain View, about two miles south of that building. I used to bicycle home on the Stevens Creek trail, right past it. I've also walked just next to it. The building is HUGE. It is a landmark.

But I still oppose the use of taxpayer money to preserve it.

My guess is that Google, which is headquartered in Mountain View and was pursuing a new site on the federal government property surrounding the hangar, will do something to preserve the hangar.

Well, minuteman and Joe, San Andreas does mean "Saint Andrew" but seeing as "San Andreas" in this case refers to the fault line in California (which has far more fault lines than just the seismic kind), "O Sweet Saint of San Andreas" works! ;-)

"but isn't saying "saint of San Andreas", like saying "saint of saint Andrew"?"

deja vous all over again:-))))

Rats... Minuteman beat me to the nitpick :-)

I think you're wrong on this one Kate. Hangar One is a super cool, super enigmatic building. It is a reminder of California's role in the emerging awareness of the US as a Pacific naval power.

I agree with Ignim Brites. If you've worked in Silicon Valley you know that it is as iconic and historic as the Ampex sign in Redwood City, and deserves to be saved. However, $32 million does seem a bit much.

And yes minuteman and Joe, things in California are named after saints in Spanish, including cities like San Francisco and San Jose, and even fault lines like San Andreas. So minuteman and GYM are correct that "Saint of San Andreas" in incorrect. San Andreas is the saint of the fault line.

There's a north-south interstate highway that goes by that installation and gives an excellent view of that hangar. That massive hangar has to be seen to be appreciated. When driving by it on several occasions, it kind of reminded me of the Hoover Dam, only sticking up into the air instead of insert into the earth. It's that big.

The structure, with it's siding intact, had a beauty and is definitely a historical structure worthy of preservation. However, given the financial realities of our times, that should be done only by private subscription, not by the taxpayer.

Been there, seen that but they (USAF) wouldn't let us fly our twin otter in it:-( Damn thing has it's own micro-climate fer gosh sakes.

yes, it is a historic icon of aviation history but, I guess like most other things, preserving and restoring the hangar would be better done by private funds. A prime example of private aviation preservation is the Confederate Air Force. Folks have got to stop asking the government for money for any and every cause, no matter how noble it is. The only thing the government (primarily US but to an extent all) can do is waste money and employ too many people to waste it.

"Not meaning to nit pick or anything, but isn't saying "saint of San Andreas", like saying "saint of saint Andrew"?"

Joe posted "No Minuteman San Andreas is a fault line in California. The Catholics love to have patron saints. I don't know if the San Andreas fault has a patron saint but if it does it would be nice if the patron saint would cause the San Andreas fault to release sufficient energy to waken California from its idiocy."

"San" is Spanish for "Saint." All of those California locations are named for Catholic saints.

"San Francisco" = "Saint Francis"
"San Andreas" = "Saint Andreas"
"San Diego" = "Saint Diego"

Etc.

So the post title could be "O, Sweet Saint Andreas, Hear My Prayer."

It wouldn't be as obvious, though.

It's called San Andreas Fault because X marks the spot...