Pitkin Plaza Planters Pulled

Are the blocks (all HVN assets) being reused somewhere; or just thrown away.

This reader fears the latter.

This is just some weird overreach...
It is about control of public space, not making it more 'flexible'.
The fact of the matter is, when you take out these planters the built in seating accommodations in the park are eliminated for everyday users, who I do see using these planters for that purpose quite regularly. That is 'everyday use' which should supercede another of these Winfred Scott Davis IV visioning excercises.some 'strange visioning' that does not have the best interests of the public at large as a forethought....

This destroys public space, it doesn't 'make it more flexible'...
Maybe it gets rid of 'loiterers'....

Put the money into decent programming.

What was the public process by which 'this permission' was given,
or was this 'project' approved through some behind the scenes emails???
Who got the contract?
What is the pricetag?

Pity no Public Participation in this Process. Pricetag?

During the run of Ideat Village, we put on dozens of events at Pitkin Plaza.
The planters were never an issue.... they were an asset.

If you could get voters out to the polls, RTC would be moot.
It rewards poor turnout. It rewards the loud voices of extremism.

Another example of thoughtless urban planning. Good thing the funds are endless to destroy and build and spend more money. What a tremendous waste of resources and of course a big distraction for those who will obsess over this non-story.
Maybe Yale wants to put up apartments in the plaze or another classroom!!!

TommyBrnfrd, a related point. The city is going to begin work on State Street downtown. I support the project. It will make the street safer for pedestrians and cyclists and potentially create more housing, including affordable housing. But it while it will create new green space, it will eliminate the current planted median. I think the city should re-use the materials in the median. And it should seek to transplant the healthy trees there. Transplanting mature trees takes a lot of work, but to the extent the city can save the trees there, it should.

Bill, the city has a landscape architect who has done very nice work in the parks and elsewhere. She was hired a couple of years ago, filling a long-vacant position. And in the wake of 9/11, the city put large planters in front of City Hall. Nonetheless, demonstrations happen there all the time.

Sorry about erroneously posting my RCV comment on this thread....
Maybe we can hire someone to remove it!

Bill, there are plenty of jurisdictions that have manipulated public spaces to restrict demonstrations, etc. I dont think that has happened here. There were plenty of cops around at the recent demonstrations on the Green. But I didnt see anyone moving planters around to limit anyones free speech rights.

While Sigmund Freud did not say it, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Improvement is welcome. We personally liked the planters but, at that time they were well tended, with nice plantings. The planters have been neglected and sad for awhile.

A great downtown 'plaza improvement' would be fixing all of the water collecting in the center of spiral parking garage in Temple Plaza. It has been useable by the public for so long... at one point it was blocked off completely for storage.... it's a great 'arena' for small public happenings.

I remember when Ideat Village staged a Pie Fight in there, with competing drum corps...
a war-renactment -- too much fun!!! We had a small circus in there as well!

Town Green Special Services has no real vision...

Town Green SSD has an almost 2million dollar annual budget.