Thank you, Mr. Gordon, for your comments about the unfortunate decision by President Trump to construct the poorly conceived wall separating the US from Mexico. There are so many reasons why this should be abandoned in favor of more beneficial projects! Here are just a few such reasons:
- Topography makes the construction of such a wall extremely difficult, if not impossible, in a quite number of locations. Many such locations are already not conducive to crossing by illegals attempting to enter the US.
- The cost of this wall is projected in many billions of dollars. With our failing infrastructure, would it not be wiser for architects to support projects related to our inadequate and sometimes dangerous bridges, transportation centers, highways, public buildings and utilities rather than this wall?
- For those of us who are interested in wildlife preservation, such a wall would severely impact the passage of wild animals whose territories cross this international border, thus further endangering species whose numbers are severely declining and whose existence is already precarious. Do we really want to contribute further to the "Age of Extinction" that is already upon us?
- The passage of illegal immigrants from Mexico to the US has already slowed tremendously. Thus, it would be far less expensive and quite productive to simply implement existing laws, technologies and procedures already in place. If funding has not previously permitted full implementation of such, then increasing such funding would be far more cost-effective than the construction of such a wall.
For these reasons, and without getting involved in the political divide we are witnessing, I would very much like to see the AIA take a formal stand against the construction of this wall. It seems to me that the reasons for abandoning the idea of this wall are well-justified from the perspective of both conservative and liberal philosophies.
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Lydia Straus-Edwards AIA
San Diego CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-19-2017 18:22
From: G. Gordon
Subject: Trump's Wall
Enclosed (attached?) is a piece I have written about Trump's Wall from an architect's perspective.
While I realize that the AIA tries to avoid controversy so as not to have its members hostile to one another, in my opinion stopping Trump's wall is something we architects should get behind as a group. I have been disgusted to see architects signing up to submit designs to Customs and Border Protection division of the Department of Homeland Security in the crudest, most amateur, rushed contest (competition?). Have we no shame? I realize its not concentration camps but still. If the AIA en masse declared itself unalterably opposed to the proposed border wall, it might have influence with congress (although the last congressman who was an architect, Richard Swett, left in 1995).
Mac Gordon