Windows
John MacLean and two others have purchased an old building in the uptown. In fact, they bought the oldest brick building in the city and are working on updating it. The building appeared to have fallen into a state of disrepair before its sale, but now appears to have new efficient windows.
Of course this makes some people upset.
According to the CBC Jim Bezanson (the city's heritage planner) isn't a big fan of the windows because they are made of a material that would be foreign to the folks that constructed the building way back when.
The CBC article goes on to say "officials have been powerless to prevent the way it's being modernized."
Good.
These chaps are fixing a building based on market demand and shouldn't be forced to use phony heritage materials. The city shouldn’t have the power to make their project more difficult. Even if Mr. Bezanson "cringes" at the thought.
(CBC article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/05/14/nb-heritagevinyl.html)
1 comment:
Hmmm, for an urban planning that's pretty sloppy analysis. As the woman says, "its surprisingly easy to follow city recommendations".
Vinyl isn't the window, its the lining around it, in fact wood is often cheaper and is just as good. The decision isn't between keeping the building rundown and not, the difference is between using vinyl or wood-hardly a contentious issue in an age when the kinds of light bulbs you use may be soon regulated.
While many don't give a rats' ass about history, this is pretty inconsistent coming from a guy talking about 'book towns'. Why do you think so many people go to Europe? It's not to see renovations or vinyl windows, its for the historical aspects.
So try looking at this from a tourism point of view. Again, this article was NOT about somebody being forced to do something, its simply about the disappointment some people feel in how a historic part of Saint John is being treated. What if the owner wants to fix it up nice and clean so that he can paint a nice prominent swastika on it? I have a feelign that 'owner freedom' only goes so far anyway.
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