Town Haul: Ownership Means Change

Tamara Tracy of Indianapolis wrote [“Who Will Clean Up Once Town Haul Leaves?”]: “Jeffersonville will be destroyed by Town Haul…superficial TV treatment…a tinker-toy legacy that the town’s citizens will be trying to fix decades after the TV cameras have left. I pity the shop owner who is left prying liquid nails off of his 150-year-old historic building.”

We all want to live in our homes [as owners], and not [as curators] in a museum. Real history is vital, alive, and embraces change. The village I live in has houses from every era in America—that is, the ones that survived over decades and centuries. A lot of historic structure is gone—either due to poor construction, or because nobody lived in it and invested their time, material, money, sweat, and heart in their property.

Ownership means participation, change, improvement, adaptation, and whatever suits the needs and fancy of the owner. This means occasionally replacing the historic with the modern. Without this, the place will be heartless, sterile, and die.

Cleaning up? Not at all—it is called life.

Bob Van Wagner
Washington Crossing, PA