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Old 04-19-2015, 05:32 PM
 
1,140 posts, read 1,392,530 times
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I live in a medium-sized city in Pennsylvania (no, no farms or other agriculture are present; this is in an urban area) and right now, plans are being made to replace the high school building with a new one (involving total demolition of the old one). The current building has portions from 1954 and 1970 and is in HORRIFIC shape. To keep the current building standing, a boatload of repairs would have to be done eventually. And with the very outdated (and decrepit) plumbing, heating, air conditioning, etc that the building has, it would be much easier and cheaper to start over from scratch.

The big complaint I hear is that the project will cost taxpayers millions, but guess what? Doing all the necessary repairs would be even more expensive, take longer, and be even more disruptive to education at the school. And the city this is in is far from rich, but is far from poor (I would call the eastern half lower-middle class, but the western part is clearly upper-middle class).

Also, complaints are made about how the current building has been neglected, but I don't think it has been. Buildings aren't meant to last forever. And let me ask this: are supermarkets built between 1954 and 1970 usually still standing and up to the standards of today's shoppers? No way, and I don't get why a high school is any different.
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Old 04-19-2015, 05:54 PM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,577,873 times
Reputation: 17323
People like that either don't realize the true cost of building or maintaining infrastructure and civic institutions, or they're willfully cheap. One of the two. In your part of the country, it's probably the latter, given how skilled they are at bitching about decrepit infrastructure and institutions while also claiming that rebuilding or replacing them "can't be done" because of the cost. Tell them to choose one or the other and shut up.
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Old 04-19-2015, 06:45 PM
 
Location: Michigan
4,647 posts, read 8,542,471 times
Reputation: 3775
Quote:
Originally Posted by motownewave View Post
I live in a medium-sized city in Pennsylvania (no, no farms or other agriculture are present; this is in an urban area) and right now, plans are being made to replace the high school building with a new one (involving total demolition of the old one). The current building has portions from 1954 and 1970 and is in HORRIFIC shape. To keep the current building standing, a boatload of repairs would have to be done eventually. And with the very outdated (and decrepit) plumbing, heating, air conditioning, etc that the building has, it would be much easier and cheaper to start over from scratch.

The big complaint I hear is that the project will cost taxpayers millions, but guess what? Doing all the necessary repairs would be even more expensive, take longer, and be even more disruptive to education at the school. And the city this is in is far from rich, but is far from poor (I would call the eastern half lower-middle class, but the western part is clearly upper-middle class).

Also, complaints are made about how the current building has been neglected, but I don't think it has been. Buildings aren't meant to last forever. And let me ask this: are supermarkets built between 1954 and 1970 usually still standing and up to the standards of today's shoppers? No way, and I don't get why a high school is any different.
Yes, actually. The design of a supermarket hasn't really changed much since then. Neither have the standards of today's shoppers. There's plenty of supermarkets and strip malls that are still standing after 50 years.

Look at other parts of the world where you find find thousands of structures that have been standing for centuries. 50 years is nothing in lifespan of a building. It's just that Americans are so used to having everything new that it's easy to disregard anything with age to it. And then the problem is that most modern day materials have crappier and crapper quality because building materials have gotten more expensive. A lot of buildings could have endless lifespans if there was actual effort spent maintaining them.
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Old 04-19-2015, 09:20 PM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,577,873 times
Reputation: 17323
Quote:
Originally Posted by animatedmartian View Post
...the problem is that most modern day materials have crappier and crapper quality because building materials have gotten more expensive.
Which ties back in with what I said about people not realizing the true cost of building or maintaining things.

Quote:
Originally Posted by animatedmartian View Post
A lot of buildings could have endless lifespans if there was actual effort spent maintaining them.
Which ties back in with what I said about willful cheapness. People who are willfully cheap don't want the necessary amount of money spent on upkeep of anything, and they don't want money spent to rebuild or replace anything either.
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