Tuesday, February 01, 2005

1/31/5 - St Helens to Mossy Rock

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An hour or so before leavin' town, I found out that the same guy who ripped off the Barlow Brothers for a pile of dirt, will be constructing the stairway for Columbia View Park. And even more troublesome is that it will not be the stairway that Larry Buzbee originally conceived and designed. No, I guess that would be too nice for St Helens, Oregon.
The City Hall Boys sure seem to think so. And the City Hall Boys also seem to like hangin' out with this dirt-sellin', project stealin', bmx-track destroyin' fella.
A few bits of advice for y'all on the "new" Columbia View designin' committee: here's some basic lessons on stair-buildin' that you could probably learn on any Saturday Afternoon at Home Depot:



Here is the Columbia View Amphitheater (9/04)

Note Mr. Buzbee's artistic design. Imagine his original vision that included a beautiful rock-laid stairway. Imagine, and ONLY imagine, because it aint gonna happen. Instead they will throw together in HACK-like fashion, something that will merely function as stairs. Now, I suppose that's alright if your skimmin' some money or whatever, but really you guys, take some time to think about how you're gonna throw it together; think about how it could look for future generations. For example:


Here are some fancy stone steps, and they look pretty nice.



These are also fairly simple and classy



These are very boring stairs.
Not much imagination at all and very cost-effective.

Now, the questions you have to ask yourselves: Which kind of stairs will you, as St Helens citizens, be walking on for the next 50 years?
Will they be fancy, or classy or artisitically considered?
Or will they just be thrown together to save a buck. Or to skim a buck?
Do you deserve better?
I kinda think you do. So did Larry Buzbee.
Take care of things in this nice little town y'all got here.
-Tom

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

They should consider stairs for the crippels. Maybe a steal ramp or something. Cement blocks.

ScottB said...

and then again, maybe not. as i understand it, these days people are gettin' arrested and fined for damn near anything in St Helens. So, if you're stealin stuff for the amphitheater...well, let's just say, I cant imagine how high the fine would be.

Anonymous said...

I was arrested in St. Helens for drinking a beer on the pourch of my friend Ron's own house. I was in the pokie for 15 hours. It was a lite beer too.

I also have a friend Leo who was arrested for jay walking! He's 78. Takes him a while to cross is why he got into it with them. Plus Leo might have fired on them. He's a nut. Loves to shoot at folks.

Great blog!!! My Mothers a trucker.