RFK Children Object to Hotel Preservation

[Rose Siding]

LOS ANGELES -- Five of Robert F. Kennedy's nine surviving children urged school officials Thursday to scrap plans to preserve parts of the landmark hotel where he was assassinated in 1968.

The offspring said the district should devote the entire 23-acre site of the Ambassador Hotel to an education complex.

The proposal to enshrine parts of the ballroom where Kennedy gave his last speech, and possibly the pantry where he was gunned down, runs "counter to his life's work and the kind of legacy our family has tried to maintain," the family members said in a letter to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which owns the dilapidated hotel.

"Our father's entire public career was devoted to creating a better future for young people," said the letter, by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Maxwell Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Christopher G. Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-kennedys-hotel,0,4966355.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Rose Siding]

1. Every news story that mentions this man's death....

and my heart goes cold all over again, remembering. Every single time...

[Joe_VB]

2. Me too....what a dark day.

[montana_hazeleyes]

Yes,

You are so right. Just think how this country and the whole world would be today had President Kennedy lived and then we had Bobby.

They were wealthy but they cared for all people,and wanted to help and lift up the poor and see everyone have a good and fulfilling life. To this day there are many in the Kennedy family doing good works you never hear about.

But let one do something wrong and the whole family is blasted.

It's like Bobby was our last hope and they took him from us.

[montana_hazeleyes]

3. Yes,

You are so right. Just think how this country and the whole world would be today had President Kennedy lived and then we had Bobby.

They were wealthy but they cared for all people,and wanted to help and lift up the poor and see everyone have a good and fulfilling life. To this day there are many in the Kennedy family doing good works you never hear about.

But let one do something wrong and the whole family is blasted.

It's like Bobby was our last hope and they took him from us.

[montana_hazeleyes]

4. oops

:silly:

[Thor_MN]

5. My first clear memory of a news story

I was 5 and a half. I can still picture the Black and White TV in the old house. What I remember was a woman screaming for a doctor and feeling bad.

[Rose Siding]

6. Poor thing

:(

I was in 4th grade when we lost John and I remember being afraid as I walked home (they sent us early) because we'd all learned to do the "drop drills" the year before.

[Piperay]

9. Yeah, me too

:cry: the World would be a much better place it RFK could have fulfilled the promise that he was slated for.

[w4rma]

7. I hope they don't follow the Kenneys' advice. I think the parts should be

preserved.

I think it's important that Americans remember our past and the preservation of this place would help.

Also, having those parts within or near the school would enhance the school's status and can be used in the future to help raise money for it.

[WestCoastProgressive]

8. Let it go.

The current plan envisions keeping a few pieces- the pantry, a section of the ballroom, and a few etcs. To the extent that the ballroom is a nifty structure and was long prominent in Los Angeles society it has some merit. On the other hand, maintaining the pantry were Robert Kennedy died seems to me no different from keeping the Dillinger Death Car. The only interest is prurient. There are better ways of remembering a life then keeping an empty shell of a room where a notorious crime occured, particularly if doing so inconveniences the building of a much-needed school. Save RFK's birthplace, or his adult home, instead of this huge old building with some well scrubbed stains.

I know the area well and the Ambassador Hotel property has been tied up in planning for too long. It's time to move forward. Let's remember RFK best by building a great school and putting his name on it.

[OnceUponATime]

10. I wasn't born yet but

I have read a lot about RFK and everytime I think of his death I get deeply depressed. I truly believe we would have a very different and much improved country today if he had lived.

I went to high school in Southern California and strangely enough, they held our junior prom at the Ambassador. I didn't attend - the thought of going and being in that place and celebrating made me sick. (Also, I didn't have a date! Guess I was reading too many political books...)

The only reason I can see to enshrine parts of the Ambassador is to highlight the areas where the LA Police and Daryl Gates destroyed evidence and allowed this tragedy to occur. I know, that's conspiracy theory territory, but his murder never should have happened and we never got the truth how it did happen. I suppose we never will.