'Clock Tower of Babel' now fixed, now broken again

Here's an update on the piece I did Tuesday, which mentioned that the clock tower on the new Little Sugar Creek Greenway at Kings Drive and Morehead Street was not keeping the correct time.

It came in response to a question from Joe Mattiacci of Charlotte, who wrote to the Observer Forum, asking, "Why do we need a huge clock tower on the new greenway at Kings Drive and Morehead anyway? Everybody in Charlotte seems to have their face in some sort of electronic device much of the day where the time is readily available."

And, he asked, "Why do we have a clock that hasn't kept the correct time since it was erected? Who is responsible for this episode of another public waste of money?"

Answers: It's not public money. The Rotary Club of Charlotte raised the money for the clock tower, which was designed by LandDesign. Gwen Cook, a planner with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department, said a recent electrical storm had affected the clockworks (by the Verdin Company in Cincinnati, Ohio), which was working with the county department to fix the problem.

This morning, reported, "The clock is working correctly. It's a feature that we'll keep an eye on to be sure it's not affected by storms. There is good surge protection. ... [We] Will continue to monitor."

Oops. About 6:15 p.m. she emailed to say the clock was lagging again. She said Verdin is sending a service technician next week.

Photo credit: Mary Newsom.

It's NOT a user fee, it's a gas tax. And other tidbits

Are we cutting our way to wealthy consumers living in filthy communities?

I'm clearing out the inbox after several days out of the office. Here's some of what I've found:

Cutting our way to filth: Lanny Reavis of Gastonia sent along a quote from John W. Gardner, in response to my op-ed from last Thursday, "A bright city future dimmed by cuts." Gardner, the founder of Common Cause, was secretary of health, education and welfare under President Lyndon Johnson. It's from Gardner's "The Recovery of Confidence" (1970):

"Tax reduction has an almost irresistible appeal to the politician, and it is no doubt also gratifying to the citizen. It means more dollars in his pocket, dollars that he can spend if inflation doesn't consume them first. But dollars in his pocket won't buy him clean streets or an adequate police force or good schools or clear air and water. Handing money back to the private sector in tax cuts and starving the public sector is a formula for producing richer and richer consumers in filthier and filthier communities. If we stick to that formula we shall end up in affluent misery."

Of course, to be balanced I must also report another email, either from Don Caudle (sorry, he didn't include where he lives) or from someone using his email: "Just what part of 'there is no money' do you liberals not understand...."

Gas tax = user fee? Think again: Friend and fellow writer Alex Marshall sent a link to his recent piece in Governing magazine, in which he argues that the gas tax is NOT a user fee. And, he responds to a rail critic, Kenneth Orski, who wrote: “Pres. Eisenhower’s ambitious plan for the interstate highway system was placed on a sound fiscal basis by being backed by a user fee (a.k.a. the gas tax).” But high-speed rail, Orski said, “burdens the states with continued operating subsidies.”

Er, no, says Marshall. He writes, "President Eisenhower put the interstate highway system on a sound fiscal basis by burdening states with a continued operating subsidy for it in the form of the gas tax."

That Clock Tower of Babel: Joe Mattiacci of Charlotte sent this query to the Observer Forum. He titled it, "Clock Tower of Babel":

"The first question one might ask is why do we need a huge clock tower on the new greenway at Kings Drive and Morehead anyway? Everybody in Charlotte seems to have their face in some sort of electronic device much of the day where the time is readily available.

"The second question would be why do we have a clock that hasn't kept
the correct time since it was erected? Who is responsible for this
episode of another public waste of money?"

The answer: You may not like it, or think it was necessary, but the clock was bought with private, not public money. The Rotary Club of Charlotte raised the money. Gwen Cook, a planner with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department, explains: "The clockworks were provided by the Verdin Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, and paid for by the Charlotte Rotary Club, a gracious gift to the new greenway. Verdin has been in business for over a century."

She said the electrical problem with the clockworks began with an electrical storm a few weeks ago. They're working with the vendor to diagnose the exact problem, in order to fix it. The repair costs aren't on the taxpayers' dime.

And for those curious about why the clock tower looks as it does – I've heard some grousing by designer-types about the stonework, balustrades and urns – the designer was LandDesign, which designed that whole section of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway.

Ride with (and lobby?) your mayor: Friday you can bike with Hizzoner and whichever other local celebs/pols decide to come along.
Arrive at 7:30 a.m. (no need to don spandex though you may if you wish) to ride from the lot behind the Dowd YMCA, 400 E. Morehead St., to a free breakfast at the plaza next to Two Wachovia Center uptown. It's all part of BIKE!Charlotte activities from April 29-May 15. For more information: Ken Tippette, ktippette@ci.charlotte.nc.us or 704-336-2278, or Neal Boyd nealboyd@charlottesportscycling.com or 704-503-0138.

Remembering a designer who made a difference

Touring the soon-to-open greenway along Little Sugar Creek on Wednesday "Long-ignored creek debuts in starring role," (slideshow here) my guides pointed me to some carved inscriptions in the pavement at each end of the pedestrian bridge that allows people to walk from Harding Place over the creek to the greenway. They were put there by the folks at LandDesign, in memory of the late Brad Davis.

Brad was a champion for parks, as well as good design. I met him shortly after I started writing my columns on city matters, and I respected the care he put into his work and designs. He was a long-time member of the county's Park and Recreation Commission and helped found its nonprofit Partners for Parks. He died of cancer in 2007.

His colleagues at LandDesign, where he was a partner, donated money for a small memorial to him at the greenway. If you walk across the bridge you'll see his words. I particularly liked those on the Harding Place side:
"Attaining good design is a real struggle between the idea of creating great spaces and meeting the regulations for public health, safety and welfare. When in doubt, do great design."

A farmer praises the Thread Trail

The Observer News Enterprise in Newton (outside Hickory, in Catawba County) has an interesting interview with a farmer who's a fan of the planned Carolina Thread Trail.

Stanly Stewart, who's been a grain farmer for 35 years, says some farmers worry that a trail near or on their land would bring litter and vagrants.

But Stewart says, public trails aren't the big threat to farmers: "The major threat to farming is unbridled development,” he said. He's right. Suburban sprawl and even rural sprawl are eating away at this region's last farmland – ironic in an era when so many people are rediscovering the importance of locally grown foods and meat.

He has experience that proves his point. Stewart’s family owns land around Murray’s Mill, the article reports. It says, "They decided to build trails around the land for people to enjoy the property. Since the area was opened to the public, the amount of trash has greatly decreased. Stewart attributes the decrease to the public’s renewed interest in the land around the trails.
“When you light up an area, the dark goes away,” he said."

The Thread Trail is a plan for a connecting network of trails throughout the Charlotte region. Each community gets to plan where the trails would go. No land would be taken by eminent domain. In Charlotte, a small portion runs alongside Little Sugar Creek, through Freedom Park. Someday, if all goes well, you could walk from uptown Charlotte to South Carolina, or to Crowders and Kings Mountain.

Creek loses its concrete cap

This is cool, so I'm putting it up right away, but please read my post from earlier today (it's just below) about transit myth-busting.

Little Sugar Creek is free! It's being removed from its concrete prison even now. County real estate services project manager Jay Higginbotham shot this photo today from the new bridge over Independence Boulevard.

The old concrete parking lot was built atop the creek when the former Midtown Square -- originally Charlottetown Mall -- opened in 1959, the first enclosed shopping mall in the South. Engineer Pete Verna supervised the project for developer James Rouse, who went on to national fame for such projects as the planned town of Columbia, Md., and Faneuil Hall marketplace in Boston. It was Verna, who's still doing engineering work here, who designed the concrete over the creek, he told me in an interview a few years back.

Eventually all the concrete will be removed from the creek, and the county greenway system will run beside it.