I have been listening to the residents of Parkersburg on both sides of the pavilion issue. This includes multiple in-person conversations, listening to Mayor Joyce and members of city council, and reading the plethora of social media debates. After disregarding the misinformation regarding this project, I am hearing two basic motivations driving the arguments of placement of the new community center. The first motivation is financial. Mayor Joyce and the City Council have clearly outlined the process and reasoning they have used in the decision-making process and show that the new building replacing the existing pavilion will not put the burden of higher tax rates on the residents of Parkersburg. In fact, by replacing the pavilion, a great deal of the maintenance costs of dealing with a 100-year-old building will be eliminated. The second motivation I am hearing is emotional. When you have a public building that has been in place for over a hundred years — a building that contains the memories of thousands of residents from thousands of different events, there is an inevitable tug at the heartstrings at the thought of tearing it down. Human beings like permanence. And just because something is old doesn’t mean you throw it away.