The first time I went there I was so surprised at how small it was and how it was crammed right in the middle of a metropolis.
OPINION....a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
The Alamo is in the middle of a tourist nightmare presently, but there are big plans in progress to clear much of that out and restore the area to a more original configuration. Much controversy has ensued.
...............
“You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution
The Alamo was a crumbling, derelict structure where drunks slept and prostitutes practiced their trade. It was a lot like a modern-day crack house in the early 1900s when local real estate developers were trying to destroy it to make room for development.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas recognized the historical significance of the site and structure and raised the funds to purchase it in order to preserve and protect it as a shrine to those brave souls that gave their lives for the independence of Texas from Mexico.
That volunteer organization owned and administered the site from 1905 until Governor Rick Perry seized control from them and gave it to the General Land Office now headed by GLO commissioner George Prescott Bush.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas was very adamant that the Alamo be kept as a shrine and had serious rules to protect it and they did for over 100 years.
Now its fate is threatened by being owned by political entities that could very well decide that maybe there are resources under the structure and oil companies should be allowed to drill there or that it may be a profitable place to allow retail shopping or real estate development. Even if the structure is razed to build luxury condos, the declaration of "Remember the Alamo" does not simply remember the structure but for Texans, it is remember the battle and those who died for independence.
Fortunately, the DRT did recently win a lawsuit over the ownership of the 38,000 books, maps, and flags, artwork, and manuscripts collected by them over the years and they will display those artifacts in a special museum. The GLO had proposed selling all those items to enrich the state treasury.
Sorry, Don, but the Alamo was purchased by the State of Texas in 1905 and the legislature named the DRT as custodians. Land Commissioner George P. Bush (Yup! Yet another Bush!) removed the DRT as custodians in 2015.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke
You are correct of course, it was only the volunteer donations collected by the DRT that provided for the restoration and administration of the site for 100 years. The state did own the structure and property.
I suppose it would make a great Taco Bell now that Mr Bush controls and manages it.
Where does that type of thinking come from? I am speechless......
Don speculates in fear as an ex-Texan who left the state of his birth in his wake because it might tax his camper — “Now its fate is threatened by being owned by political entities that could very well decide that maybe there are resources under the structure and oil companies should be allowed to drill there or that it may be a profitable place to allow retail shopping or real estate development.“
Don, that’s why Texan George Mitchell invented slant-hole drilling, and I’m sorry to inform you, but Alamo Plaza has long been the scene of shoddy sales men & women. In fact, it was there that the gods saw fit to introduce us, by way of the Chili Queens selling their creations — Earth’s sweetest nectar, Chili con Carne. Today, the plaza is one step up from a carnival and no chili other than out of a commissary can. Long overdo for a redo, which the good sisters of the DRT could never even sniff.
...............
“You can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.” — Too fundamental to have an attribution
You are mostly correct and do have a good memory Wacojoe. One of the main reasons I left Texas was G W Bush deciding my 5th wheel must be taxed by the school districts while exempting motor homes. Being tired of the same ol same ol and wanting different vistas was part of the decision as well.
Tell me why should one be taxed and not the other:
Last edited by Fulltimer; 03-07-2018 at 08:16 PM.