The Donor Wall - Follow Up
The News Tribune has published a story on the stop work order issued yesterday. All the comments I’m seeing in the newspaper and in emails are missing my primary concern and this is the natural flow of pedestrian traffic.
The view of the bridge, to me, is secondary to a natural flow for pedestrians. On several occasions, when I’ve been walking near the history museum, I’ve had to give people directions around the various walls and fences to get to the bridge. This is a bad civic design. And I have nothing against the park, its donors, or the museum as some have suggested. We know several people who purchased plaques for this park. I don’t think that there was an expectation when the plaques were purchased that they would go on a wall that would impede the natural flow of traffic. They simply want a place for their plaque.
There does seem to be a concern that the museum was supposed to go back to the city before proceeding on the wall, but never did – other than for permits. That seems to be up for debate. This concern seems to highlight that there’s more to this story than a simple – “the blogs are upset so the stop order was issued” as some have suggested to me in emails. I’m sure we’ll hear more.
The News Tribune quotes one of Exit133’s comments in their story. Of all the comments to pick up, it’s Mr. Anderson’s fat cat moat comment. If you’re a regular reader of this site, you probably realize that Mr. Anderson’s comments tend to be on the fringier side of our discussions. Two words: space elevator. There were a lot of comments on that thread. Some were ill informed. Others were pretty balanced. All generally helped the debate. Why pick this one?
What’s the right thing to do? Stop work and redesign while increasing costs? Continue work and take it as a lesson for the future? Either way will cause disruption and upset folks.
Remember. It’s about the flow of people, not the view.
It’s all quite curious.
Link to The News Tribune
Previously on Exit133
Update: Editorial in the News Tribune today (9/29)
Also, unlike many issues in town, we don’t have a good timeline for what’s happening next. The pace at which this story has developed is a bit… surprising. If you have an opinion, make sure your City Council knows it.