To the Editor:
I would like to see the City Of Ukiah take a clear position supporting the restoration of the Palace Hotel, along with some concrete steps in support of that position. Lacking that I can only conclude that the City Council wants it torn down and that the City is actively working to bring about that end for this historic structure. It surely looks like that is what they want.
If you should ask, “why does someone from Boonville want to have a say in this?” I would say that I have made Mendocino County my home since 1973 and that Ukiah, with all of its faults, is my County Seat. I shop in Ukiah, I am entertained there, I eat lunch and dinner there, I pay taxes there, bank here, and I get my hair cut in Ukiah. Ukiah is not what I would like it to be, but it is what it is, and I would like it to be better. Hence my position on the Palace.
As I have said before: I think that preservation of older buildings is important because they give our society as a whole a sense that there is some shared history that we are a part of. On an individual level I think that we gain a sense of ourselves as a part of a whole when we can see and appreciate our history.
Ukiah – would you please step up to the plate here? Or throw a Hail Mary pass? Without the Palace Hotel Ukiah will be less. Make this old building modern – a new building will only be modern, a new building will be lacking the history of the Palace.
-Tom McFadden – Boonville