The Santa Maria

The Santa Maria,
In Better Days

Over the 4th of July holiday season my son’s family had the chance to visit my wife and me in the Columbus area.  My son is looking at cities that may be good for his family after his retirement from the navy.  Since my son has served on several Navy ships in his twenty years of active duty, I thought it may be interesting to show him the Santa Maria.   His reaction to the similarities of this ship of the past, as well as some of the differences of the ship, I thought would be neat to see.  On the tour were my son, my wife, my daughter-in-law, and my grandson of thirteen.  We read the flyer and paid the fee to go onboard to hear the tour information from the historical guide.  The ship on its own tells the story of a life in a different age.  It screams of history from the way the ship was built to the lives of the men on the ship.  The guide was so interested in getting done with the tour that he did not show any respect for the ship, sailors, or the people that were there to learn and experience the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus, and their places in history. As a local real estate agent, I try to promote Columbus and its places of interest.  I do this because I believe promoting Columbus to any persons considering moving here shows our pride in our community.  Now generally the beauty of Columbus speaks for itself, and so not much help is needed from its residents. 
My son and his family were very impressed with the park system, the bike and running paths, and even The Ohio State campus was impressive to my grandson for his higher education.  The tour of the Santa Maria was such a disappointment that it overshadowed any strides I may have made, in my hopes of bringing my son’s family to the Columbus area.  Please look into changes in the tour. The way it is handled, the way it is maintained, even the way its personnel act and handle themselves needs a total makeover.  I understand the mayor has been trying to make the downtown a place to gather and take pride. This part of the downtown needs a lot of improvement.  Also, may I suggest that when you make a repair to the ship, please do it so the ship stays authentic with regard to its historical place!
I must admit that this is one place that I will not be sending those persons that are relocating to our city. 
What a disappointment!!
This was an e-mail that I sent on July 7th 2011 to Linda Ketcham, director in charge of the Santa Maria and its promotion to the Columbus area. The picture that was taken early in the ship’s life needs to be the same ship that people see each time they visit her.   It was one of the ships which was home to Christopher Columbus and his crew while he crossed the Atlantic.  This spring will be twenty months since I visited the ship with my son’s family.  I look forward to seeing the improvements that have been made by Ms Ketcham’s team.  I did receive a response from Ms Ketcham shortly after I sent her the letter and was not impressed with her answers to my questions. 
 Taken from Ms. Ketchams response: “Our park is the only park on the east side waterfront that has not been redone:  Partly because of expense to the city, (the dredging alone is over half a million) and partly because the city is not sure what they want to do with us. They discussed moving the ship but that is also cost prohibited. We are (the park) in worse shape than usual due to flooding this spring and summer. The entire park was under water (water up to the handle of our storage shed and about three steps up the walkway to the upper park.) The ship was closed 12 days this year because of the flooding. Until the city decides to spend money on the park and the dock in front of the visitor center our hands are tied. The city owns the ship but the Santa Maria board runs the ship and provides for its funding.”



Figure 1A family Gathering Area



Figure 3 Falling apart

Figure 2 The lower area Closed

Figure 5 The whole park needs to be closed

  

I took a quick visit the other day to see what the area looked like now. 

I believe I may have expected too much!  Is it possible some persons have great plans that are great for this city, but they don’t bother to see what it takes to keep the project at its peak performance?