Decrepit building is no tribute to Dr. Garcia
While the city is honoring the memory of Dr. Spohn, we're besmirching the legacy of Dr. Garcia by allowing his office building to remain a neglected, vacant eyesore.
July 31, 2005
picture
Two physicians who were highly instrumental in the history of Corpus Christi are much in the news these days. But their legacies are in very different hands.
If you go by any of the hospitals operated by the Christus Spohn System, you will see banners emblazoned with the face of Dr. Arthur Spohn. The vast system of nonprofit hospitals that carry the doctor's name is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the system, which traces its beginning to the two-story facility built by Dr. Spohn on what was then North Beach in 1905. It was the city's first hospital.
The name of Dr. Spohn will be celebrated over the coming months. And it should be. Dr. Spohn was a medical pioneer, advancing medicine even though he practiced on what was essentially the frontier.
An exhibit at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History recreates Dr. Spohn's office as it must have appeared in the late 1800s.
Compare this celebration of Dr. Spohn's life and contribution to Corpus Christi with the news this week that the former office of Dr. Hector P. Garcia is being threatened with foreclosure and may go on the auction block. And that almost $2,000 is owed in back taxes on the abandoned property at Bright Street and Morgan Avenue.
Imagine. While schoolchildren on field trips to the museum learn about the role of Dr. Spohn in the establishment of Corpus Christi's early health services, schoolchildren on Bright Street pass by a boarded-up, graffiti-scarred building that provides no clues about the passion, courage and humanitarianism of the doctor who once practiced there. What a travesty.
Dr. Garcia devoted his life to curing illness and diseases and to easing the pain of the victims of bigotry and poverty. He sought justice for the impoverished and equality for the marginalized. His medical office, there at Bright and Morgan, was where the humblest of his patients sought comfort from illness and where the politically powerful sought the good doctor's ear.
Only if you see the world as he saw it, from the office located in the heart of the Mexican-American neighborhoods of the city's Westside, can you understand Dr. Garcia's determination to seek redress for those he called "my people."
But instead of a living memorial to "Dr. Hector's" legacy, we have this: Despite protestations that "we're ready to rock and roll" by the chairman of the foundation, the likelihood is that the building will be sold because of the failure to pay off a promissory note. The balance must be paid by Monday, the Garcia family says, or the building will be sold at auction.
Amador Garcia, the chairman of the National Archives & Historical Foundation of the GI Forum, told reporter Sara Lee Fernandez that a bank loan is in the works. This loan would pay off a $20,000 note owed to Wanda Garcia, the doctor's widow. That's aside from the $1,969.69 the foundation owes in back taxes. The foundation never claimed tax-exempt status from local taxes.
Dr. Garcia's legacy belongs to everyone. He made America's ideals of justice and freedom live not just for Mexican-Americans, but for all Americans.
I believe, however, that the stewardship of that legacy particularly falls on us, the Mexican-Americans who live every day in the world Dr. Garcia made better. You can't blame this debacle on any of the usual bogeymen of minority oppression. "The man" had no role here. This is our task, and we've fallen down.
Perhaps the foundation will get its act together and make the vision of a museum come to life. But that seems like a very long shot.
Schoolchildren ought to have some idea of the role Dr. Garcia played. The Garcia archives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are invaluable to scholars, but they're really not accessible to school kids.
Elizabeth Flores, the Del Mar College professor and a very bright person, has an excellent idea: Let there be two doctor's exhibits at the city museum, one of Dr. Spohn and one of Dr. Garcia.
One would tell us about the man who fought yellow fever in the 19th century and who established a hospital that lives on. And the other would tell us about the doctor who tended to the poor and who reminded us that the American dream belongs to everyone.
Nick Jimenez is editorial page editor of the Caller-Times. Phone: 886-3787; e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:jimenezn@caller.com jimenezn@caller.com.
MORE JIMENEZ COLUMNS »
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Decrepit building is no tribute to Dr. Garcia
While the city is honoring the memory of Dr. Spohn, we're besmirching the legacy of Dr. Garcia by allowing his office building to remain a neglected, vacant eyesore.
July 31, 2005
picture
Two physicians who were highly instrumental in the history of Corpus Christi are much in the news these days. But their legacies are in very different hands.
If you go by any of the hospitals operated by the Christus Spohn System, you will see banners emblazoned with the face of Dr. Arthur Spohn. The vast system of nonprofit hospitals that carry the doctor's name is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the system, which traces its beginning to the two-story facility built by Dr. Spohn on what was then North Beach in 1905. It was the city's first hospital.
The name of Dr. Spohn will be celebrated over the coming months. And it should be. Dr. Spohn was a medical pioneer, advancing medicine even though he practiced on what was essentially the frontier.
An exhibit at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History recreates Dr. Spohn's office as it must have appeared in the late 1800s.
Compare this celebration of Dr. Spohn's life and contribution to Corpus Christi with the news this week that the former office of Dr. Hector P. Garcia is being threatened with foreclosure and may go on the auction block. And that almost $2,000 is owed in back taxes on the abandoned property at Bright Street and Morgan Avenue.
Imagine. While schoolchildren on field trips to the museum learn about the role of Dr. Spohn in the establishment of Corpus Christi's early health services, schoolchildren on Bright Street pass by a boarded-up, graffiti-scarred building that provides no clues about the passion, courage and humanitarianism of the doctor who once practiced there. What a travesty.
Dr. Garcia devoted his life to curing illness and diseases and to easing the pain of the victims of bigotry and poverty. He sought justice for the impoverished and equality for the marginalized. His medical office, there at Bright and Morgan, was where the humblest of his patients sought comfort from illness and where the politically powerful sought the good doctor's ear.
Only if you see the world as he saw it, from the office located in the heart of the Mexican-American neighborhoods of the city's Westside, can you understand Dr. Garcia's determination to seek redress for those he called "my people."
But instead of a living memorial to "Dr. Hector's" legacy, we have this: Despite protestations that "we're ready to rock and roll" by the chairman of the foundation, the likelihood is that the building will be sold because of the failure to pay off a promissory note. The balance must be paid by Monday, the Garcia family says, or the building will be sold at auction.
Amador Garcia, the chairman of the National Archives & Historical Foundation of the GI Forum, told reporter Sara Lee Fernandez that a bank loan is in the works. This loan would pay off a $20,000 note owed to Wanda Garcia, the doctor's widow. That's aside from the $1,969.69 the foundation owes in back taxes. The foundation never claimed tax-exempt status from local taxes.
Dr. Garcia's legacy belongs to everyone. He made America's ideals of justice and freedom live not just for Mexican-Americans, but for all Americans.
I believe, however, that the stewardship of that legacy particularly falls on us, the Mexican-Americans who live every day in the world Dr. Garcia made better. You can't blame this debacle on any of the usual bogeymen of minority oppression. "The man" had no role here. This is our task, and we've fallen down.
Perhaps the foundation will get its act together and make the vision of a museum come to life. But that seems like a very long shot.
Schoolchildren ought to have some idea of the role Dr. Garcia played. The Garcia archives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are invaluable to scholars, but they're really not accessible to school kids.
Elizabeth Flores, the Del Mar College professor and a very bright person, has an excellent idea: Let there be two doctor's exhibits at the city museum, one of Dr. Spohn and one of Dr. Garcia.
One would tell us about the man who fought yellow fever in the 19th century and who established a hospital that lives on. And the other would tell us about the doctor who tended to the poor and who reminded us that the American dream belongs to everyone.
Nick Jimenez is editorial page editor of the Caller-Times. Phone: 886-3787; e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:jimenezn@caller.com jimenezn@caller.com.
MORE JIMENEZ COLUMNS »
While the city is honoring the memory of Dr. Spohn, we're besmirching the legacy of Dr. Garcia by allowing his office building to remain a neglected, vacant eyesore.
July 31, 2005
picture
Two physicians who were highly instrumental in the history of Corpus Christi are much in the news these days. But their legacies are in very different hands.
If you go by any of the hospitals operated by the Christus Spohn System, you will see banners emblazoned with the face of Dr. Arthur Spohn. The vast system of nonprofit hospitals that carry the doctor's name is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the system, which traces its beginning to the two-story facility built by Dr. Spohn on what was then North Beach in 1905. It was the city's first hospital.
The name of Dr. Spohn will be celebrated over the coming months. And it should be. Dr. Spohn was a medical pioneer, advancing medicine even though he practiced on what was essentially the frontier.
An exhibit at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History recreates Dr. Spohn's office as it must have appeared in the late 1800s.
Compare this celebration of Dr. Spohn's life and contribution to Corpus Christi with the news this week that the former office of Dr. Hector P. Garcia is being threatened with foreclosure and may go on the auction block. And that almost $2,000 is owed in back taxes on the abandoned property at Bright Street and Morgan Avenue.
Imagine. While schoolchildren on field trips to the museum learn about the role of Dr. Spohn in the establishment of Corpus Christi's early health services, schoolchildren on Bright Street pass by a boarded-up, graffiti-scarred building that provides no clues about the passion, courage and humanitarianism of the doctor who once practiced there. What a travesty.
Dr. Garcia devoted his life to curing illness and diseases and to easing the pain of the victims of bigotry and poverty. He sought justice for the impoverished and equality for the marginalized. His medical office, there at Bright and Morgan, was where the humblest of his patients sought comfort from illness and where the politically powerful sought the good doctor's ear.
Only if you see the world as he saw it, from the office located in the heart of the Mexican-American neighborhoods of the city's Westside, can you understand Dr. Garcia's determination to seek redress for those he called "my people."
But instead of a living memorial to "Dr. Hector's" legacy, we have this: Despite protestations that "we're ready to rock and roll" by the chairman of the foundation, the likelihood is that the building will be sold because of the failure to pay off a promissory note. The balance must be paid by Monday, the Garcia family says, or the building will be sold at auction.
Amador Garcia, the chairman of the National Archives & Historical Foundation of the GI Forum, told reporter Sara Lee Fernandez that a bank loan is in the works. This loan would pay off a $20,000 note owed to Wanda Garcia, the doctor's widow. That's aside from the $1,969.69 the foundation owes in back taxes. The foundation never claimed tax-exempt status from local taxes.
Dr. Garcia's legacy belongs to everyone. He made America's ideals of justice and freedom live not just for Mexican-Americans, but for all Americans.
I believe, however, that the stewardship of that legacy particularly falls on us, the Mexican-Americans who live every day in the world Dr. Garcia made better. You can't blame this debacle on any of the usual bogeymen of minority oppression. "The man" had no role here. This is our task, and we've fallen down.
Perhaps the foundation will get its act together and make the vision of a museum come to life. But that seems like a very long shot.
Schoolchildren ought to have some idea of the role Dr. Garcia played. The Garcia archives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi are invaluable to scholars, but they're really not accessible to school kids.
Elizabeth Flores, the Del Mar College professor and a very bright person, has an excellent idea: Let there be two doctor's exhibits at the city museum, one of Dr. Spohn and one of Dr. Garcia.
One would tell us about the man who fought yellow fever in the 19th century and who established a hospital that lives on. And the other would tell us about the doctor who tended to the poor and who reminded us that the American dream belongs to everyone.
Nick Jimenez is editorial page editor of the Caller-Times. Phone: 886-3787; e-mail: HYPERLINK mailto:jimenezn@caller.com jimenezn@caller.com.
MORE JIMENEZ COLUMNS »
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