December 12, 1986 MARIN VOICE
 If
suicide barriers are “ugly,” suicides are uglier
J. Michael Mahoney
DEAR IJ:
It is very gratifying to see that at least one of the Bay
Area’s media has finally awakened from a very long slumber
to take note of the appalling situation that has been allowed
to go for some 60 years on the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m talking
about the terrible epidemic of suicides over its 3’/2-foot-high
railings, now totaling well in excess of 1,200 people (IJ,
Dec. 3). We now have in place, after 59 years, a minuscule
scooter patrol, which has proved somewhat successful in
stemming the tide of suicides off the bridge. But that’s
only a temporary solution. The ultimate solution is a fixed
suicide barrier. To prove my point, 12 persons have committed
suicide by plunging off the bridge in spite of the scooter
patrol.
The IJ is perfectly justified in its criticism of the
Golden Gate Bridge board for having allowed this unnecessary
slaughter to go on for so long without having taken, until
now, positive steps to stop it. But equally to blame are
the IJ and all other Area newspapers and media. The media
in this country has an overriding responsibility to monitor
the actions of our public officials and to campaign against
negligence or malfeasance when they see it. Even so, the
media has been strangely silent until now with regard to
the bridge. They have treated the bridge board as if it
were some kind of
…12 person have recently committed suicide
off the bridge IN SPITE of the Scooter patrol.
 Protest:
Some say that Golden Gate Bridge suicides can be curtailed,
if not eliminated.
Sacrosanct entity, and the board has acted accordingly,
with arrogance and callowness, at least with regard to the
suicide problem. We seem to have forgotten that the more
than 1,200 people who have killed themselves for lack of
a suicide barrier on the bridge are not aliens from outer
space. They are our fathers and mothers, wives and husbands,
sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Just recently,
the San Francisco Chronicle editorialized about the new
scooter patrol on the bridge, saying it’s preferable to
some kind of “ugly” suicide barrier. To me, any device that
would have prevented the more than 1,200 (and counting)
bridge suicides would have to be the most beautiful structure
imaginable! What a perverse and narcissistic sense of aesthetics
someone must have to say that such a structure be "ugly"
and thus we shouldn't construct one -not even taking into
account the reality that such a structure could be architecturally
formed to be extremely attractive, almost like a piece of
modern art.
But, over the years, the bridge board and media seem to
have chosen "aesthetics" over human lives.
________________________________________
To me, any device that would have prevented the more than
1,200 (and counting) bridge suicides would have to be the
most beautiful structure imaginable!
_________________________________________
Both should hang their heads in shame at the horrible consequences
ensuing from this incredible attitude. Thus, as mentioned,
it's indeed heartening to see the IJ finally getting angry
at the bridge board, but some of that anger should also
be directed at itself and other Bay Area members of the
fourth estate, as well as the broadcast media. If these
entities had raised their collective voices in anger and
dismay against the bridge board early on, the board would
have been forced to listen and take action, like it or not...
In any event, better late than never. Now, all that remains
is how many more years must pass and how many more lives
will be lost before an adequate suicide barrier is finally
erected, putting an end to the horrific slaughter of innocent
beings once and for all...
Michael Mahoney is a Larkspur philanthropist
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