Make like a tree, and "leaf"...

[thelastresort]

I have alot of sentimental attachments too, but there comes a time to just grow up about it. I could understand in situations where someone or someone's family actually owned something, and then they are upset because the new owners' ruined it, or it fell out of favor and they had to sell, or any numerous conditions. Sure, in this case, there is a personal attachment, like someone working their whole life for something, and then seeing it ruined overnight.

But I just can't get all that shaken up over some inanimate object that only affects my life for a few days out of the year, like any individual motel or sign. Sure, if the entire island got ruined by redevelopment, that would be terrible, and incrementally, that might happen over the next 20 years. I hope not, but who knows.

And of course, there are things I would like to be a certain way, and I think it's a shame when places like Hunt's Pier get ruined, and I get as POed as the next guy, maybe more, when I see the Nugget lying in ruins. But it's gone, and it's a drag, but stuff happens. Life is not a bowl of cherries. We have to deal with it. Like someone on this board once said "make new memories". If someone called me an a-hole for liking the Nugget, well, shame on them.

It's like when I go to baseball games and football games and actually see people get into fights in the mens' room over their teams. It's silly.

PS, someone once called the Water's Edge addition "a big dorky annex". Hey, I like it. My feelings have been crushed. I hope you'll be happy to know that because of that, I'm sitting in my chair fumbling with metal balls ala Humphrey Bogart mumbling something about strawberries....

[fuzzyscorpio]

thelastresort said:

I have alot of sentimental attachments too, but there comes a time to just grow up about it.

You say "grow up," I hear "give up." I don't believe we should simply surrender to some sort of free-market Darwinism, if that's what you're thinking.

if the entire island got ruined by redevelopment, that would be terrible, and incrementally, that might happen over the next 20 years.

You say that like an afterthought, but I think that's what a lot of us are about here... the increments. Mourning the ones already down the drain, and trying to figure out how we might help to keep the rest from slipping away. Mike D recently commented that we've already lost critical mass in the aggregate of doo-wop motels, but if that's true, it still doesn't mean we should let them all go. Every time another one bites the dust, the remainder increase in cultural, aesthetic and, yes, sentimental value. I think we ought to be fighting tooth and nail for every last one of them now, although that may be contrary to the League's thinking at this point. Hmmm... maybe the League should pull from our ranks to assign each motel its own Doo-Wop Defender...

I get as POed as the next guy, maybe more, when I see the Nugget lying in ruins. But it's gone

I don't think we should write the Nugget off yet, either.

PS, someone once called the Water's Edge addition "a big dorky annex". Hey, I like it. My feelings have been crushed. I hope you'll be happy to know that because of that, I'm sitting in my chair fumbling with metal balls ala Humphrey Bogart mumbling something about strawberries....

Ha, ha, ha. Poke all the fun you want--I still say this forum ought to be a last refuge for us die-hards to come and cry in our _________ [fill in beverage you most closely associate with Wildwood] if we feel like it ;D

[thelastresort]

"free-market Darwinism". Interesting term, Fuz, I like it. It does seem to characterize what is going on down there in WW. Sadly, though, in some instances, the "evolution" is not for the better. I think it is more like "money talks". If someone figured they could replace the vintage motels with a Wal-mart (definitely a step backwards) and make alot of money, they would do it.

I suppose what I meant by "grow up" is that as much as we hold our breath and stomp our feet, there is not much that could be done, and I just decided about a year ago that I refuse to mentally exhaust myself about it anymore. Until either the local, state or fed govt gets on board, nothing really can be done as a practical matter, except to raise awareness and hope for the best.

But I also think that to save the city, there needs to be a mix, new and old, doo wop and pastel, etc., that in my mind could be the true selling point of WW, options that are not found in most coastal resorts. Being too monolithic (all doo wop, all condo, etc.) is dangerous for the future, I suppose. Which is why I verbally roll my eyes sometimes when I hear the knee-jerk "doo wop good, all else bad" mantra.