Very tall buildings are never 100% plumb. By the time the last floor is finished, a building is off some degrees from the 90 degrees that would make it perfectly perpendicular or plumb to the ground below. It is well understood in the architectural and construction world that the taller the building, the more imperfect it becomes.
The structure of a building is designed to incorporate some imperfections and still remain structurally sound. Perfection is sacrificed for the realities of the physical world, the limitations of current architectural knowledge and the materials available to the builder.
I have been following the on-going problems that have developed in the construction of the fifty-eight floor Millennium Tower, a luxury condominium in the heart of San Francisco. It has been settling unevenly into the landfill it is built on almost from the day it was completed. These were condominiums built for the wealthy with breathtaking views of the city, the San Francisco Bay and the hills of Berkeley and Oakland. When they opened in 2009, the least expensive condo was one point eight million dollars with more spacious condos on upper floors going for many million more.
The problems with the uneven settling were first publicly acknowledged in May 2016. Residents began to notice that the floors were uneven. If a marble was dropped on the floor it would easily roll toward the northwest. Since then, the tilting has steadily increased. The latest information I have been able to find says the building has tilted over twenty-six inches, ( approximately sixty-six centimeters) and continues to tilt as the massive foundation sinks into the San Francisco Bay mud.
As would be expected, this tilting of the building has alarmed its residents and greatly reduced the value of their property. It has also brought about the inevitable finger pointing at who and what is to blame. Engineers have been called in and potential fixes have been tried. Some seem to have even increased the tilting. No one seems to know what to do. Theories about the cause have remained unproven. There seems to be no majority opinion about what to do. The building keeps tilting.
The residents meanwhile, are also divided on how to seek compensation for their damaged property. Some have sued the builders. Some have sued the marketing company. The Condominium Board has sued the developers and the City of San Francisco who are the owners of the Trans-Bay Terminal which is next to the Millennium Tower. They feel that construction of the Trans-Bay Terminal caused the problems of the Millennium Tower. Complicated. Expensive. Meanwhile the tower continues to tilt with no resolution in sight.
As I have followed the plight of the Millennium Tower, it has occurred to me that skyscrapers at six-hundred and five feet, (197 meters), like this one, which overlooks a major city, is not unlike a democracy that has dared to stand tall against other forms of governments that deny freedom and opportunity to its citizens. The designers of democracies understood that the foundation of government was based on legally enshrined rights enacted through the passage of laws and supported by a legal system that serves the collective interests and well-being of its citizens.
The building of a skyscraper, just as a democracy, is subject to changes in its design from the very beginning. Plans are modified to meet unforeseen challenges but they are predicated on the trust that the foundation is solid and will bear the growing weight of construction and the strains put upon it by time and nature. Building designers try to take into account the effects of these forces and design in enough flexibility to yield to varying conditions.
A tall building is not built to be absolutely rigid. It is understood that there has to be some “give”, some allowance for movement. If it didn’t, it would snap under certain extreme circumstances. In this way, democracies are designed to have some “give”, to be flexible enough to accommodate changing needs of its citizens.
The Millennium Tower is now tilting somewhere around twenty-seven inches, (sixty-nine centimeters). The general consensus among the engineers is that at around forty inches (100 centimeters) of lean, the electrical system and elevators will cease to function. Current estimates are that this will be reached in five years though, at the current rate of lean, it could be much sooner.
Democracies are the loftiest form of government yet devised. They are built on the basic foundation that people wish to live in freedom and safety and will act in ways that preserve these wishes. Democracies have tried to build into themselves a foundation of conventions and laws that, while allowing for differences in opinion, will not bend to any one ideological force to such an extent that the democracy topples.
It is the foundation that ultimately bears the greatest stress the tilting building puts on it. In a democracy, this foundation is made up of beliefs in the integrity of the voting system for choosing its leaders and its adherence to the laws that govern the day to day functioning of a society. Without this base, chaos ensues. The ability to self-govern becomes co-opted by those who wish to impose their views on everyone else. Their goal becomes power and the ability to dictate what laws should and shouldn’t be followed, what elections are legitimate and which are “rigged”. The more power any one group obtains, the more they will attempt to control what people can read, what is taught in schools and who can teach it. They will use their power to ensure their hold on power in any election by controlling how, where, when and if people can vote and how votes are counted.
I recently read that the base of the Millennium Tower, which is a forty foot thick, steel reinforced foundation, has been showing signs of cracking which concerns the engineers a great deal. But even more than that, the center has begun to sink. It is what the engineers call cupping. This is where the center is lower than the perimeter of the foundation. Without the support of the center the perimeter can no longer support the building. This seems true in a democracy as well. There are always the edges of political belief, the fringe parties or movements. They do not ascribe to ideologies of moderation or compromise. They exist for themselves supported by a self-fulfilling propaganda that excludes and often even demonizes all those in the center of the political spectrum.
The more polarized a democracy becomes the weaker is its center. Compromise, the “give”, needed to keep the integrity of the system, becomes less and less available and a rigidity begins to set into the system. The “building” reaches a point where it isn’t able to withstand the stresses imposed on it. The tilt of the building is no longer supported by a solid foundation. The building, the democracy, becomes so far out of plumb that it ceases to function.
Just as the engineers of the Millennium Tower site have not found a solution that works to stop the tilt, it feels as if America and other democracies around the world are struggling to find a way to stop the fissures in the foundation of their systems. They get bogged down in ideological battles and legal battles. Finger pointing and blame abound. Petty name calling replaces constructive debate. Lies obfuscate potential solutions. In the U.S., the Capitol is attacked by an angry mob while a legitimate election is being certified. The mob shouts for the lynching of the Vice President and Speaker of the House. The party of Trump chooses to call this, “legitimate political discourse”.
Meanwhile the building and democracy continue to tilt. If the Millennium Tower should fall, the loss of life and property will be monumental. If democracy falls, the impact will be felt for a millennium.
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Thank you for being one of my readers. You are why I continue to write. I welcome your feedback.
This is my 49th essay since I started on March 15, 2020. Little did I know, almost two years later, I would still be pecking away at my keyboard. I hope to continue if you and the Muse stay with me. Several of my readers have encouraged me to publish all my essays in one volume. If I can put together enough consecutive days to focus on this project, I would love to do it.
I have learned that writing is not a solitary enterprise. I never feel alone when I am writing for you. Be safe, Be well, Love the ones you are with and the ones you wish you could be with if it wasn’t for distance, time, and a pandemic.
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What a great analogy. I do feel like voting is a key part of our "structure", and we must make sure it is solid. We have very little voter fraud (residents of the Millennium tower are not creating more tilt), but we do have party politics (hmm, maybe these are the failed attempts to fix...not sure?).
I have always hated gerrymandering. I am from Chicago, which has a long history of skewed voting districts. In fact, my family sort of lives in Kinzinger's congressional district. We did until recent changes to the districts that is. I feel that both sides do this.
What can we do? I am tempted to move to a swing state and vote there...a modern day carpet bagger.