Buildings with No People

How can an eagle fly with only one wing? The answer is that it cannot, and neither will the eagle-styled court building be able fulfill its purpose as it sits unfinished and one-winged on the South Dakota Indian Reservation. Monica Davey of the New York Times reports in the article "Earmark Gone, Indian Project Is One-Winged" that the $18 million dollar cultural facility and judical center has lost its funding and any practical purpose:

"[...]this eagle has only one wing. Federal money for the other has run dry. And even the one eagle wing, all 30,000 square feet of it, is mainly just a shell, ceilings unfinished and rooms empty, silent but for the buzz of black flies that bite." (September 12, 2007).

When first being created, the building's purpose was to "lure outside investment to impoverished Indian reservations across the region by creating a court system where outsiders could recoup losses if a business deal went bad." Such high goals that could indeed help the people of the reservation. A piece of architectural creativity that could benefit both the reservation and American businessmen. But with Tom Daschle (former Senator of South Dakota and main champion of the eagle-building) out of office, the construction of the building stopped as funding dwindled down to nothing. Now the Indian reservation has an empty eye-sore to look at while South Dakota tax-payers are wondering what in the world their money went towards.

The funny thing is, this isn't the first time a pet project of a congressman has gone ary. Who can forget the $200 million "bridge to nowhere" up in Alaska? The situation with unfinished projects has gone to such an extreme level that Washington has begun passing laws ordering congressmen who begin pet projects to sign their name to them so that, if voted out of office, they will be held responsible for the project's completion. My inquiry, however, is not as to why the projects are being finished, but rather why are they being built when that money could be placed in areaas with greater need? Obviously, the projects are not being started without some grand reason, but why does it seem better to half-build a cultural and judicial building when the "impoverished" American Indian children are struggling without adequate health facilities and schools? Yes, the Indian reservations are their own sovereign nations, but if they would have accepted a building to promote economical growth, would they have not accepted improvements on their schools? It appears better to improve the schools and the supplies within the classrooms in order to raise up a generation of smarter and more prepared American Indians who will be able to help the reservation from within rather than constructing a building to bring in outside business. Outside business wouldn't hurt, but improvements to buildings/funding better education already existing would not have resulted in an $18 million dollar home to horse flies.

These types of projects are filled with good intentions and the potential to create wonderful improvements, but the congressmen who start them are failing to see that the need does not lay with new buildings but with the actual people. Once the people are taken care of, they will need building projects to construct and use, and these projects will no longer go unfinished because they will be needed. The buildings then will fulfill their purpose to bring education, economical growth, and culture to their cities instead of being eagles with only one wing.