From: D. Pearson <mamagistra@gmail.com>
To: sosebeem@sfasu.edu
Sent: Sunday, June 21, 2009 12:19:38 PM
Subject: Can we save historic South Park?

Dear Mr. Sosbee,

As you may know, the historic 1922 South Park building in the South Park neighborhood of Beaumont is slated for demolition this summer. This architectural treasure housed the South Park Junior college (the fledgling Lamar University), South Park High School until 1986, and has operated as South Park Middle School to the present.

The Beaumont Independent School District has ignored the protests, petitions, and urging of citizens from all walks of life who have asked that the building be spared. What advice can you give on this dire situation?

The building has been inspected and determined to be structurally sound, yet BISD intends to spend double the cost of remediation of South Park to raze the historic building and construct new. The district insisted that if demolition were "necessary", they would salvage as much of the building as possible to incorporate into the new design. Unfortunately, the design that BISD has commissioned shows none of the historic structure left intact.
They intend to erase South Park history by demolishing the building in full!

Hundreds of people have called for South Park to be saved, either to continue as a refurbished and refreshed middle school or as a treasured building that can be re-purposed for administration, performing arts, or another preservationist use. The district has not listened. Letter upon letter has appeared in the Beaumont Enterprise, crying out for South Park to remain. The Enterprise editors themselves stood up for this and other area landmarks within the last week. Yet the powers-that-be have turned a deaf ear to history and to the desires of myriad citizens.

Mr. Sosbee, what other avenues are there for us to pursue? The South Park building already holds Texas historical designation. Who else might be interested in helping us fight to keep the building erect? Would you be so kind as to notify others who are interested in the preservation of area history and regional landmarks that citizens are fighting for South Park? We need support immediately if South Park is to remain standing.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Debra Pearson
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mamagistra@gmail.com

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