Here come da' wrecking ball?

April 30th. That's the date set by the Woodstock City Council when demolition of Grace Hall can commence.

What will the fate of Grace Hall be? Are you willing to let a grand, old building become a pile of old bricks? Nobody is trying to take that building away from Woodstock Christian Life Services (WCLS). There is no public taking of that building. And certainly WCLS is not going to let it fall into disrepair.

Are you willing for another plain, non-descript duplex to replace this grand building? Drive by. Park. Study this building. Then look around at the duplexes and decide for yourself. WCLS can preserve history and, I'm pretty sure, profit by figuring out how to reconfigure this building into beautiful senior residences, rather than knocking it down.

Is WCLS having a true change of heart about this building? Is it realizing that a good adaptive re-use would be good for history, good for Woodstock and good for WCLS? Or is it just smiling like the Cheshire Cat and waiting for the clock to run out?

Let's hope the chambers of the City Council will be filled with Woodstock residents on Tuesday, April 21, at 7:00PM.

If you care about Woodstock beyond your front porch, grab your neighbors and be at the City Council meeting in less than two weeks.

Drive by the Woodstock Opera House. If concerned citizens had not rallied, there would be a parking lot there.

The City's decision on October 7, 2008, is not cast in iron. What the City Council can create, it can take apart.

Woodstockers, unite!