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CONSTRUCTION THREAD: Riverplace


btoy

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I figured the best bet to figuring out when the fountain would open was to turn to Nancy Whitworth. Here is the email she sent me:

-No exact date has been set for the opening of the fountain, they are working on it as we speak and can be any day now. As each aspect works (there are jets that create the tunnel as well as the other fountains) it will be left on.

Edited by carolinadude9409
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I think the city went with the train track/train noises idea to give our city something unique (i.e., a visitor attraction and something to add to the city information guides). The appeal is supposed to be its originality and uniqueness. Everyone thinks the big kidney bean in Chicago is weird, yet people make a point to visit it. Why? Because it's strange, and uniquely Chicago. Every significant city has quirky things about it that define it. Perhaps the RiverPlace fountain, complete with painted train tracks and noises, will come to be known as uniquely Greenville. :)

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but it would look a lot better if they would have inlayed beams and tracks into the concrete....yeah it would cost more but it would have been worth it.

I agree 100%. And even if they couldn't install them, they could have sculpted or stamped them into the pool deck somehow. This painted-on nonsense just looks tacky.

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The painted tracks will look quite different once there is water splashing on top of them. Also keep in mind that it's supposed to be functional and inviting for people to splash in and had fun with. Anything but a flat, painted surface would cause falls and stubbed toes. I imagine this area is going to constantly have an activity of people playing, relaxing, or just passing through as we've seen with Falls Park.

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Many people also thought that having a ballpark in the West End was a bad idea. Their justifications included a bad surrounding area, lack of parking, and poor talent (since the West End field meant getting a single-A team). Although I wanted the West End ballpark from the start, and had good reasons for it, the above reasons are admittedly legitimate and warranted. However, that situation out pretty well, didn't it? Even those who were originally against the idea will admit that the city knew what it was doing.

In the same vain, the potential exists for this waterfall and fountain. Sure, we might not have done it exactly this way, but who's to say that the people who planned it and constructed it don't know more than we do?

If it turns out to be a flop and makes our city the laughing stock of the United States, I will have no problem admitting it. But come on, let's at least give it a week or two of being functional before we dismiss it as a mistake.

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Many people also thought that having a ballpark in the West End was a bad idea. Their justifications included a bad surrounding area, lack of parking, and poor talent (since the West End field meant getting a single-A team). Although I wanted the West End ballpark from the start, and had good reasons for it, the above reasons are admittedly legitimate and warranted. However, that situation out pretty well, didn't it? Even those who were originally against the idea will admit that the city knew what it was doing.

In the same vain, the potential exists for this waterfall and fountain. Sure, we might not have done it exactly this way, but who's to say that the people who planned it and constructed it don't know more than we do?

If it turns out to be a flop and makes our city the laughing stock of the United States, I will have no problem admitting it. But come on, let's at least give it a week or two of being functional before we dismiss it as a mistake.

I agree with the thrust of your post. We should try to keep an open mind until it is been open at least a week or two.

On the other hand, I thing the ballpark analogy is a little different. The people that thought the West End shouldn't be the location were mostly the folks that see no point in DT revitialization to begin with. They wanted it on the already clogged interstate, off by itself. They couldn't fathom that the ball field would itself bring renewal to the area.

They also think that any building that isn't pristene looking has a mugger hiding behind it to rob anyone that walks by.

Those that question this fountain are merely debating one relatively minor detail of it.

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I never thought about this until now, but what they should do if their not going to is light up this huge fountain at night with different colors like blue and green for Greenville. See the pics here: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...7698&st=280 or here to see what i'm talking about: http://static.flickr.com/1/2546766_5cd3343472_m.jpg

Edited by carolinadude9409
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I think why they didnt use real tracks is because little kids could fall and get hurt on them if they used the real thing. I wish they could have made it a little more nice looking as far as the train tracks though. We worked very hard on the fountain to end it with this?. I also dont like the green color too much. I think a fake gravel look would have looked good kind of like you see around the rail road tracks plus it would have matched the rock work better.

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I never thought about this until now, but what they should do if their not going to is light up this huge fountain at night with different colors like blue and green for Greenville. See the pics here: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...7698&st=280 or here to see what i'm talking about: http://static.flickr.com/1/2546766_5cd3343472_m.jpg

That's an excellent idea. Who knows...maybe this has already been done and we don't realize it yet. :whistling:

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When you guys spoke of a tunnel over the tracks, I envisioned the streams crossing over the tracks in a arch, but when I was there yesterday, the streams just shot straight up and back down, but maybe that was just testing?? I think the trax may have looked better if painted better as well. Right now that just look like green and red stripes that cross. And I also think it would look awesome lit up at night, are they not going to do that?

I also have a question about the water flow, yesterday there did not seem to be much water going over the rock walls. Was this just because they are still testing, or is that what we should expect. I had thought it would have a much larger flow so as to be dramatic, and be heard as well as seen.

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