David: Life More Than Fiscal Austerity

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 a lways 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?