Thursday, October 13, 2011

Square streets - a mess

I've been through the Square a few times recently, and it is certainly a mess. The "streetscape" project sure looks like some "make work" to me. What was wrong with the way it was? (Click on image to enlarge it; then click on the Back button on your browser to come back here.)

Some curb and center island work was done a while back, and more is being done now. One merchant told me today, "The merchants hate it!"

Is this "This is going to be good for you, so suck it up"? The extent of the work has caused parking interruptions; I wonder how many parking spaces are out of service during this construction work.

Wouldn't it be nice if the City posted some "Excuse our mess" signs? And maybe some signs showing a countdown to completion? Or maybe some "funny" signs with caricatures and something like, "Thanks for looking at our mess." But that would require a sense of humor...

With people out of work and unfilled employment positions in the City, resulting in an increased workload for the remaining employees, might it have made sense to postpone this unnecessary work?

2 comments:

Dave Labuz said...

Hey Gus - know what you mean.

Used to attend a family reunion in northern Michigan.

In the early 90's, going north on what I believe was Route 131, there was someting on the order of 30 miles of single-lane construction.

At the start, there was a sign telling us how long this zone would be with a stylized "unhappy face" on the sign. As we progressed, the un-happy face slowly transitioned to an average face, and in the last few miles to an increasingly happy "smiley face", and then finally, once beyond the barriers, an exuberant "smiley face" with a double-fist pump! LOL!

The humor was both funny and placating, and the "miles to go" and "months to go" signs were accurate and appreciated.

Gus said...

Thanks, DBTR. I think I might have been on that same road. I thought the idea was a great one, and it did calm down a lot of drivers. Just not the one behind me, who couldn't pass!