posted on February 27, 2002 03:15:28 PM new
SAUSALITO, Calif. (AP) -- A new public safety building is on the ballot in this upscale Marin County town, but some say it just won't do because it's simply bad feng shui.
Come Tuesday, voters in the quaint waterfront town will decide whether the $7.8 million, 22,500-square-foot police and fire building fits into the ancient Chinese art of placing things to ensure a harmonious energy flow.
Advisory Measure B will be on the ballot, and those opposing the new facility have gone before the City Council to pitch their arguments.
"If you put that up, it will be bad feng shui!" said Nancy Bennett, an expert called to testify against construction. "They are cutting off the mouth of Qi."
posted on February 27, 2002 05:05:29 PM new
That's my hometown, so don't speak ill of it. The building would be a monstrosity if it is to be as described. The existing buildings share an active intersection where two main tourist through roads merge and to build to block that intersection would disrupt the flow of the town and be truly very bad feng shui.
It's the sort of thing that outsiders have brought and the main reason that my father left the place. It was his hometown too, and my grandfather was the postmaster there.
posted on February 27, 2002 05:48:59 PM new
I would never disparage sweet little Sausalito. I'd also never go there again, because I distinctly recall that intersection being a mess twenty years ago and I can only imagine what hell it must be now. You know me -- I won't even drive to Oakland anymore.
I do wish this feng shui business had been prominent back when Frank Lloyd Wright was designing public buildings. I would've loved reading his acerbic comments on the subject.
Terrific speech in the other thread, btw -- I mean the one you wrote, not Ike's.
posted on February 27, 2002 06:26:52 PM new
I know enough about feng shui to know that it is neither a religion, magic (majik), or nonsense. It is a bonafide art of discerning what is best the five senses. We look at art and do not imagine it is nonsense because it is a matter of one's perception, so we should not casually write off the idea that making the looks and placement of things the most comfortable and refreshing as possible. I do sympathize with the cops who have to work out of trailers, but they can wait until someone can come up with an idea that would blend in the new building harmoniously.
Borillar
"Real friends don't let friends vote republican"
posted on February 27, 2002 06:50:40 PM new Borillar, it may be a bona fide "art" as practised in China, but the preponderance of western wackos who have glommed onto it as a career have, imo, damaged any validity the ancients accorded it.
Reminds me of the people who become Reiki Masters or the people who "do" your colors, or any of the myriad fads we (Californians, especially) have been subjected to over the last three decades.
With that said, I don't disagree that architecture ought to attempt a harmonious balance with its surroundings and the community it serves. I just don't buy that it requires a feng shui "expert" to attain that goal.
posted on February 27, 2002 07:08:45 PM new
I wish they would have used feng shui when they built the EMP building here in Seattle. That thing looks like a squished giant aluminium can that was tossed out of the sky. [aliens, no doubt]
posted on February 27, 2002 09:36:44 PM new
Don't be silly, Rawbunzel -- you'd've wound up with a squished can painted red and green
And this seems as good as any a place to put this latest bit of smarm from our President's Daddy:
Former President Bush Apologizes forRemarks About Marin County The Associated Press
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) - Former President George Bush has apologized to northern California residents for describing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh as "some misguided Marin County hot-tubber."
Bush's apology appeared Wednesday in The Marin Independent Journal newspaper, which had earlier invited readers to tell Bush about their home. Many of the writers use the opportunity to scold him.
"Call off the dogs please," Bush wrote in his humorous response. "I apologize. I am chastened and will never use 'hot tub' and 'Marin County' in the same sentence again."
Bush said he was so offended by Lindh that he hurt other's feelings.
"Now your readers have attacked me on my granddaughters, on my residence, on abortion, on Enron, on my being a Texan and on my pronunciation of Marin. You name it, a lot of angst has surfaced, and it's all my fault."
Bush said that although he received only 23 percent Marin's vote in 1992, "I was your president and I should have known better."
"I will now soak in my own hot tub and try to be more sensitive to the feelings of others - not John Walker Lindh, though," he added.
