David Townsend (via Facebook re: Dolling up Lake City's 'poop plant'): I think we can have public life in one of two ways. We can make every public facility look like a prison -- just so much concrete and quonset huts. We can reject style and art if it is funded by the public dime. We can trudge through life always doing the absolute minimum in the name of fiscal responsibility. Or we can use a little imagination and creativity and enhance public property so that it makes the community a pleasant place to see and and live in. We can have cities without public art; without parks, playgrounds, ballfields, recreation programs, and life-guarded beaches; without libraries; without any of the "extras." It would function. But is would it be somewhere you would want to live? And yes, I am a public emplolyee working for the city. I am also a taxpayer and I approve of the message we are sending to future generations.

Question: I thoroughly agree with David's message that public structures and spaces should have pizzazz to them. Otherwise, we're pursuing unimaginative utilitarianism. What do you think?