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CAT Tracks for January 17, 2010
BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN CAIRO |
You may take my headline as "catty". That would be YOUR BAD!
It's all a matter of perspective...
As one who grew up in Cairo in the 1950s when downtown Cairo was the shopping and entertainment mecca for the tri-state area...
As one who did "drive-bys" over the past 20 years as building after building collapsed of its own weight and neglect...
As one who gave up my only exercise of walking because the sights along my Commercial path were just too depressing...
Well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...and in these old eyes, the "new" downtown Cairo is indeed a vast improvement
Footnote:
If you are a former Cairoite or a frequent visitor in the "good old days" and it's been a while since you have gazed upon what you fondly remember. Don't even go where others have blogged before...bemoaning the fact that the bulldozers and cranes descended upon historical buildings...buildings that should have been saved and preserved.
I read one blog a few months ago where folks were taking turns offering the means and methods of saving the buildings. One person said there was a spray that could be applied to the bricks that would stop the decay. Uh, no offense...might have been a good idea, 20 to 30 years ago. However, by the time the money became available to address the plight of a once bustling, historical area...there wasn't a brick left standing to spray.
If there is any hope for a "rebirth" of Cairo...the first step has now been taken, with a lot more remaining to be done. No industry would even think of investing dollars to come to what had become of Cairo. Empty lots are more appealing to investors than piles of rubble.
It is time to move on...
BTW...
The picture below...showing buildings slated for future demolition. We all need to get one of the cameras that the photographer used. If it worked half as well on people as it did on the buildings...we would ALL be beautiful people indeed!
Not "captured" are the broken-out store fronts, collapsed roofs, full-grown trees growing through the roof...
Hell, with one of those cameras, I'd probably have hair!
Bears repeating...
It is time to move on...
From the January 18th edition of Monday's Pub...
