City Council should reconsider architectural mandate

The Venice City Council should heed the criticism of preservationist Don O'Connell and stop trying to turn Venice into an architectural theme park.

The theme is "Northern Italian." That style of building design has held the council's support since at least the late 1990s. Current members embrace it, and the council seems ready to dictate its use in disparate areas of the city.

At a Feb. 26 council meeting, the owner of a restaurant at Venice Municipal Airport was told his tiki bar should have a sign that fits the Northern Italian theme.

At a workshop two days later, the council talked about mandating the same theme on The Esplanade and on Tarpon Center Drive, along the Gulf.

That prompted O'Connell, a lawyer and former president of the Venice Area Historical Society who attended the workshop, to speak up. O'Connell, a longtime city resident, has restored several historic buildings in the oldest part of Venice.

In dictating a "faux" style all over the city, O'Connell told the council, "You are making a terrible architectural mistake."

Not even architects agree on how to define or design Northern Italian or Mediterranean Revival styles, he said. "You are Disney-fying Venice."

O'Connell said he isn't totally against the style, but when the council mandates its exclusive use, "It takes away all creativity."

We agree. The council should ask architects from the region to engage in a public design symposium in Venice.

Such an event might help the council and public reconsider the knee-jerk requirement that one style fit all parts of the city.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080308/OPINION/803080471/-1/news