San Diego, CA – The cost to fix a group of buildings in San Diego that many have found terribly offensive has skyrocketed, 10News learned.
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From the ground, a cluster of buildings on Naval Amphibious Base Coronado look ordinary. However, from above the buildings are constructed to form a swastika shape.
The buildings were supposed to have been modified nearly three years ago, but the complex has not been touched.
“It’s hard to understand why this is taking so long. Am I angry? No. Am I disappointed? Yes,” said Morris Casuto of the Anti-Defamation League.
Casuto was one of several community members who pressed the U.S. Navy to do something about the design in 2007.
“It dishonors our service people to have them living in a building in the shape of a swastika,” said Casuto.
As a result, the Navy’s plan was to spend $625,000 on a single-rooftop canopy to mask the design. However, that plan was quickly scrapped because many saw it as insufficient.
Navy officials told 10News it has a new, larger-scale plan to transform the current buildings into a new design that would include a series of connections to mask the swastika and at the same time create more square footage and infrastructure to support rooms and additional sailors.
The price tag for the Navy’s latest proposal is between $17 million and $40 million, and it is to be submitted for the 2011 fiscal year.
“The price tag of $17 million to $40 million just doesn’t make any sense to me, and as a taxpayer it’s just irresponsible,” said Rhonda Deniston of Oceanside-based watchdog group Stop Taxing Us.
A former member of the military, Deniston said she is sympathetic toward those who are offended by the design, but also finds the proposed cost of the Navy’s plan “offensive.”
“It’s a perfect example of what taxpayers are talking about right now within not only the federal level, but also the state and local level, that money is being spent in incredibly irresponsible ways,” added Deniston.
But what many find most surprising is that Navy officials did not become aware of the design until after the 1967 groundbreaking and decided not to do anything then.
“It seems to me that it is virtually impossible to believe that no one noticed that shape,” said Casuto.
disgusting
they should build just metal canopies to cover the middle areas like ‘bus stop shelters’
that shouldnt cost much
I know we jews sound may sound a little sensitive from this but if it was something offensive to christians or muslims it would have been treated the same way
Between 17mil to 40mil. That seems like quite a large difference. If they can’t figure out what it will cost how will we know what healthcare will cost. Can you imagine if I submitted my income to the irs that way.
Has anyone seen the runway layout map for Denver International Airport? It is a giant swastika stretching over about 50 square miles of Colorado plain.
There as here; just what were the architects thinking and why did nobody pick up on this before ground was broken?
i think it is ridiculous that a fuss is being made over this, you think it was intentionally built to look like a swastika? making a fuss about this is simply a chillul hashem and a waste of time and money.
who cares about the shape, I believe there better things to do with 17 million dollers.
Is this really a big deal? It wasn’t done to be a WWII symbol, just dumb planning. you can only see it from the sky…Am I missing something? Should we ban perpendicular intersections in BoroPark because they look like crosses from above?
That’s a lot of money to fix a non-problem. Just save that money and wait until the building is old, then tear it down and build a non-swastika shaped building. This is a recession. 17 million pays a lot of Navy peoples’ salaries, you know…
Oh give me a break.
Really?
We have nothing else to worry about?
..really?
We always get mad at Al Sharpton crying racism, but Jews are no different. We love to play the victimhood game and always scream antisemitism. ADL is the Jewish Al Sharpton that whines and cries wolf about everything. There are a lot of Jews like me who are sick and tired of ADL and other Jews using and abusing the Holocaust for political purposes. People are getting sick and tired just like everyone is with black people screaming racial profiling at everything.
This building was built around WWII it never was meant to be anything connected to Nazis or antisemitism. The Coronado Base trains U.S. NAVY SEALS one of the most elite units in the world. Leave them alone. Navy is busy training its guys and fighting 2 wars. Wounded SEALS fighting Muslim extremists don’t get good medical benefits and people are pressuring the NAVY to waste 17-40 million dollars on some stupid, wasteful project to make some Jews feel important? You don’t want to see the “Swastika building” then don’t look at google maps go about living your life. If ADL feels it’s so important let them get some rich donors to fund the project not force the tax payer and DOD budget to cover it in time of war.
I would love to know who planned these buildings. This is no mistake!!!!
just bury the building with garbage bags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get over it. Before WW2 everybody used swastikas, including Jews. The mosaics found in ancient shuls include swastikas. And many Indians (both Asian and American) still use it, and see no reason to stop just because of something that happened in Europe and has nothing to do with them. Every Jain temple has a swastika; it’s as holy to them as a cross is to Xians.
What matters is *intent*. If someone makes a swastika because he admires the Nazis, then it’s a symbol of hatred. But if someone makes it without such intent, it’s completely innocent, and certainly not worth spending $17M, let alone $40M, to hide.