From a distance, the double stairwell off of St. Elmo Street, down into Union Terrace, looks pretty good. As you get closer, the disrepair becomes more apparent. The neglect and demise of this icon is nothing new, I have been writing about it for years. Union Terrace was the last major park developed by the WPA, and without a doubt, the most ambitious. The amphitheater and raised stage is separated by the Cedar Creek, an incredible symphony of landscape design. The park is now called Joseph Daddona Terrace, but I always use the original names, they have more meaning and history. The top of the main wall of the staircase is missing numerous cap stones. As this winter weather begins, water will seep down into the middle of the wall and freeze. This freezing and expansion cycle can destroy the irreplaceable wall in short order. Let us hope that a city with a $billion dollars of new development can find a few dollars to seal the top of this wall.
Your right on this issue Mike. One just has to call Wenz memorials at 19th and hamilton and I am sure that the 25 thousand set aside by the county would go along way to make the repairs to the steps and wall caps at union terrace. They have the expertise to not only give an overall evaluation but the stone masons in house. Studies in this case is a waste of time and money.
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ReplyDeleteThanx for your integrity in this blight against the blightable forces that be locally¿
I have a picture of yesterdays article topic with frozen icecicles and the winterwonderland back there, with all the digital gagetry these days you would think I could pass it on to you¿
guy@12:12, wentz closed, and the property is for sale. the city fortunately has a stockpile of original wpa stone. when constructing the new union street bridge, the stone retaining wall was taken down. in it's place, a concrete wall was built, and capped with the original stone. the process created a nice wall, and yielded the city quite an inventory of left over cut stones. this blog is followed by various people in the administration, and i'm hoping that a repair will result.
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