Walls Coming Down At Historic Moffett Field Hangar
MOUNTAIN VIEW (KCBS) - Some major changes were expected to take place this week in Mountain View, where one of the oldest buildings in California is about to shed its skin.
Sometime this week, crews would begin removing the toxic siding from Hangar One, the massive structure at Moffett Field that once housed giant airships.
For decades, Hangar One has loomed over Moffett Field, considered by some to be nothing more than a vacant "white ghost" of Silicon Valley's past.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
That would all change with the removal of the building's toxic paneling. The work was projected to take about a year, and, ultimately, it would mean that Hangar One's "skeleton" would be exposed - something that was expected to be visible from Highway 101.
Some residents in the area questioned whether it would amount to an eyesore, though that could ultimately motivate people to take an interest in restoring it, they reasoned. Preservationists also weighed in, expressing disappointment that the U.S. Navy didn't already have a plan in place to restore the building.
"Even to leave it standing there as just as skeleton would be very disappointing, so that's why we're working so hard to make sure that there's a way to res-kin the hangar and reuse it," explained Steve Williams with the Save Hangar One Coalition.
$32 million was set aside in the most recent federal budget proposal for the restoration work, though that allocation had yet to be approved by Congress.
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