(6/30/99)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A group of historic preservationists who planned to announce their ``Most Endangered List'' outside an abandoned 1858 Victorian home showed up too late -- all that was left was a pile of wood.
``We were told we had until the end of the month,'' said a disappointed Bob Brokl, who is a member of the board of the Oakland Heritage Alliance.
``Now it's too late,'' he said as a backhoe started work on a neighboring structure that also was being torn down to make way for an office building. ``But this wood will make excellent fuel for our annual weenie roast.''
The J.P.M. Davis house, known for the man who served as Oakland's mayor from 1860-1862, is one of many older buildings near the waterfront that are being sacrificied for new development.
Developer Rauch and Sons CEO Andrew Alamo said, ``I'm just doing my part to make Oakland beautiful. Old things are dull, bring on newer, uglier office complexes that look like prisons! While we're at it, we ought to pave a big section of national forest and fill in most of the San Francisco Bay. It just gets in the way of progress.''