Wasting Resources and Destroying History

"In our battle against the Los Angeles Unified School District's decision to tear down the Ambassador and put up a new school, we made many arguments. We focused on "reuse" as an economic incentive. The LAUSD wasn't buying it. We hired a team of architects to come up with options that would transform Myron Hunt's 350,000-square-foot building into a series of classrooms, administrative offices and low- and moderate-income housing. That didn't fly either. Neither did the argument that the Ambassador was a national landmark, or that six Oscar ceremonies had been hosted there, or that Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and even Barbra Streisand broke hearts on the stage of the Cocoanut Grove. It didn't matter. Nothing stopped the Ambassador from becoming another little death of no consequence."

"We've treated old buildings like we once treated plastic shopping bags -- we haven't reused them, and when we've finished with them, we've tossed them out. This has to stop. Preservation must stand alongside conservation as an equal force in the sustainability game. More older and historic buildings have to be protected from demolition, not only because it affects our pocketbooks but more important because it threatens our environment. Let's face it, our free ride at the expense of the planet is over."