View corridor

In Austin, much is made of preserving "view corridors" so that the Capitol, which used to be the most striking and prominent building on the skyline from all parts of town, may still be seen from afar. We used to see both the tower on campus and the Capitol from our front porch. We could tell who had won the football game by whether the tower was lighted in orange or not. Then for a while we could see the top of the tower and quite a bit of the Capitol dome. Then we could see the little tempietto and the statue atop the dome, but not the tower on campus. The new Frost bank building and the new taxpayer-financed hotel by the convention center have now removed the last vestiges of the tower and the dome, even when leaves are gone from the trees and even from upstairs. Now the Frost building is lit garishly at night. During the day it reflects killer beams of sunshine off its ugly blue facade. Blue is not a good color in the local light.