STREET SCENE: Uplift

4 comments

1. Yes, new development can uplift a street, but so can the city if they choose to be more aggressive in phasing out overhead wires and wooden poles. That stuff is an ugly mask on an often beautiful city.

2. Oh dear, such a strong feeling about overhead wires.
   We really should get together for a drink some time and talk this through,
   When I lived in the suburbs I did think wires and old buildings ugly, but they are no longer ugly to me.at all – I live downtown now and the lane way behind is just full of them, yet not a bit ugly to me. They add a lot of character.

3. Well, if you thought old buildings were ugly, then you were severely off-base. But then again, the wires don’t inspire the best building maintenance standards because they make architectural features harder to notice. They just detract from the refined character of the city. If they add any sort of character, it’s of the dirty drifter kind.

4. I disagree with that value judgment but I do agree that it was immature of me not to like old buildings when I did not like them.
   currently I save my disliking for:

   A) modern architecture that implements extensive Styrofoam and stucco fake details.

   B) modern flimsy strap on street-lighting (currently promoted to all BIA’s as better smarter and just a little more expensive) that looks like fake gaslights suitable for a mickey mouse sub-urban theme park.

   C) any partially thought through scheme that serves some politics but does not actually advance the spirit of civic freedom and individuality for taxpayers and utility ratepayers as much as it costs all people – disrupts our lives and transfers more power to individuals and guilds.

   Then again, my motive as an artist is to appreciate things, all kinds of things, and I am saddened that some quaint things are under-appreciated and on their way out, to be replaced by “PROGRESS” powered by strong ideas irrespective of individuality.