On Wednesday, May 3, the Orange County Legislature voted against a bond proposal that would have funded plans for the demolition of the Orange County Government Center and construction of a new building.  The vote was 11-10 against.  At the beginning of the meeting public comments were made regarding the government center.  I had hoped to read the following letter but was unable to do so due to health reasons.

Re: Public comment on Agenda Item No. 1, Bonding for a new Government Center

Dear Legislators and County Executive Diana,

I offer an aesthetic argument for why we should value the existing Orange County Government Center, and not toss it out the window of our county government’s speeding sport utility vehicle like an empty, crushed and crinkled beer can, left to rust in the gutter stream at the side of the road.

The Government Center, in its complexity, surprises and novel use of space, provides an amusement park for the imagination.  I first was arrested by it as a Newburgh Free Academy high school student, when I participated in Mock Trial Team competitions in the Paul Rudolph-designed courtrooms here in Goshen.

As a college student at Yale I spent a lot of time in its Art and Architecture Building, which was also designed by Paul Rudolph and shares many of the same architectural features and approaches.  Both buildings share culverts and dead-ends that mockingly defy any usefulness, giving the soul entertainment and a breath of poetic rest.

This Government Center is a true, transparent sculpture of the reality of what it takes to survive in life.  The process is convoluted, intimidating, unpredictable and at times impossible to navigate.  The death by a thousand tiny steps that anyone who has had experience with government has suffered through, is here boldly and refreshingly embodied in steel and concrete form.

Simplifying the architecture would do nothing to simplify these realities.  Simplifying the architecture would be an adoption of McGovernment—fast food architecture, with its disposable citizenry, cardboard containers and other unwanted garbage tossed out the windows.

Instead, let us treasure what we have—a difficult, bizarre feast of architecture that sometimes laughs at us, but also gives us something to laugh about.  Let us give the people and children of Orange County something to debate, despise, appreciate, and most of all, think about.  Let us treat the Government Center with respect and appreciation, and give it the proper renovation it deserves.

Sincerely yours,
A. Jane Johnston

Just a reminder that this Thursday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m. is the Orange County Legislature’s monthly meeting, at which the legislators will vote on a resolution to issue $14.6M in bonds to pay for planning and development of a new government center building.  This is your chance to chime in about what should be done about the building, either a restoration/renovation or demolition/new construction, or some other alternative.

Additional information can be found on the Save the Orange County Government Center Site.  For specific information on the proposed bonds, the draft resolutions can be downloaded from the county site here.  The meeting’s agenda can be downloaded here.

The meeting will be held in the Emergency Services Auditorium, the Emergency Services Center, 22 Wells Farm Road, Goshen.  Advance signup is required to give public comments, fifteen minutes or more before the meeting.  Comments are limited to three minutes.

March 29, 2012

Orange County Legislature
15 Matthews Street
Goshen, NY 10924

Re: Comment for Public Hearing on the Orange County Government Center

Dear Orange County Legislators and County Executive Diana,

I previously submitted a letter to the county executive explaining why I believe that a renovation of the Orange County Government Center is the best option.

I have changed my mind.

Who lives in Orange County?  Not a lot of people who give a damn about architecture and art, that’s for sure.  Here, the county executive has been dreaming of blowing the government center to bits for years now, and neither he nor any other legislator—with the exception of a few—has had the temerity to think, maybe we should consider the architectural merits of this building, and the fact that the World Monuments Fund deems it worth preserving.  No.  Forget all that, don’t even think about it, because this is what we want to do, and we know best.

It is this arrogant, ignorant, total, utter, reckless disregard and inability to appreciate something that is truly unique and unusual that informs my recommendation that you should, in fact, tear it down.

You do not deserve something so unique and special, because you lack the emotional capacity and maturity to appreciate things that are different and difficult.

I wish you all a diet of Wonder Bread, anti-abortion demonstrators, unnecessarily long government meetings that make you want to kill yourself, and bullies that cannot be stopped because that is what you are.  I wish you this forever.

Jane Johnston