Driving between two disaster area’s, it was hard to digest the magnitude of the devastation. Not only Marshalls and the River Arts District in North Carolina, but also Manasota Key in Florida were hard hit. These are two specific places that were dear to my heart and were touched to a point that they will never be the same again. From all places in the world and all the billions of people that kept on living like nothing happened, it feels like I was personally targeted. I cannot help to think about the next action step for the recovery we collectively want to take. Are we on the same page?
Marquee was an enormous building where many artists were displaying their three- or two dimensional stuff. The owner sent me a message stating; “We will begin a GoFundMe soon focused on rebuilding the business infrastructure. Marquee was a huge financial resource to hundreds of artists and antique dealers in our community. We desire to build back and keep the creativity alive again. Ownership will be restoring the physical building and utilities” I disagree.
Every time a hurricane would hit Manasota Key, a barrier island South of Sarasota in Florida, people said, “It is not a good place to build, one of these days a storm will wipe out your home”. Every year I came to visit, new houses were built on this fragile piece of land. Sure, the foundation was up to code so the mansions could stand a Category 4 storm, challenging nature with millions of dollars.
Storms of this magnitude are wake-up calls to listen to nature and build with nature in mind. Whatever structure owners want to hold on to in the River Arts District, they will not get my support. Make a beautiful park instead with bicycle paths, benches, statues and trees. Rebuild with the next storm in mind, don’t think it will never happen again, because it will, no matter how much money you will raise.
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