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Dim light needs clapping hands
(by Barbara Christian - November 11, 2011)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Dim light needs clapping hands
Remember the stage version of "Peter Pan," when Tinker Bell is dying, her light slowing dimming, and we kids were asked to bring her back to life? Remember how we were told the little fairy would live to fight another day if only we could clap long and hard enough? Remember how we clapped until our hands stung and our ears rang?
Why wouldn't we want to save Tinker Bell? She had been an integral part of the story we were witnessing. We loved "Tink." She was helpful, resourceful and true, a tiny light but major hero of our tale.
Well, folks, we have our own Tinker Bell here in Chagrin Falls, and, oh boy, does she ever need some saving.
Our Tinker Bell has been a part of our story for a very long time, even if we didn't know it or fully understand her role and importance. Like Tinker Bell, she has been a constant and helpful presence and an important part of our shared history.
But her light has dimmed significantly in the past three years, she is beginning to bow under the pressure of development, and plans are to (gasp) kill her off. We won't go so far as to call the developer "Captain Hook," but you get the idea.
In case you haven't guessed by now, our Tinker Bell is Linden Hall, a once gracious historic home and the last remaining presence of Windsor Hospital. It played a big role in the story of our town from the earliest part of the last century.
When the property was sold for a new cluster-home development, we were eased by the knowledge that the graceful old gal was to be saved and integrated into the soon-to-be beautiful new neighborhood.
That is how it should be, we told ourselves. And how great it was the developer was acting un-developer-like and had the sensitivity and sense of history to promise it would remain and become a home again, restored by an as-yet-unknown family who would love it, as did its original owner.
But times have changed, and dark forces in the economy dictate Tinker Bell, aka Linden Hall, must go. Executed, no less, by a bulldozer that will drive its claw into her sides, force her to the ground then cart her off to the graveyard of broken promises.
In December, members of the village's architectural review board will address this grisly option and could vote to allow that to happen -- even as the Chagrin Falls Historical Society investigates whether it can save her and use her for a new museum.
Remember Tinker Bell? Remember how empowered we felt as kids when we clapped long and loud and how slowly but surely Tinker Bell's light began to grow brighter? Remember our spontaneous outburst of joy and cheering that followed when Tink took off, fluttering around the stage alive and healthy?
We could save Tinker Bell again. Linden Hall could live, if not by our applause but by our will. Write or call the architectural review board and ask members to hold the developer to his promise, at least until the historical society can find out whether it can save and reuse Linden Hall.
Write to: Architectural Review Board, Robert Barclay, chairman, c/o Chagrin Falls Village Hall, 21 W. Washington St., Chagrin Falls 44022. Or call and leave a message for Mayor Tom Brick at 440-247-8399.
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