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Old 01-04-2010, 05:56 PM
 
382 posts, read 1,352,486 times
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They haven't always had good designs for our freeways. I remember the pots lining the walls of SR 51. I'm glad their taste has gotten better at least, though I also think it a waste of money.
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Old 01-04-2010, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Peoria, AZ
1,064 posts, read 2,658,322 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lyzzard View Post
They haven't always had good designs for our freeways. I remember the pots lining the walls of SR 51. I'm glad their taste has gotten better at least, though I also think it a waste of money.
haha thats true. I remember their were toilet bowls perched on the walls of the SR51 south of shea blvd somewhere which were eventually removed. So they wasted the coin to put them there and then wasted more to remove them!
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Old 01-04-2010, 07:55 PM
 
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"I would rather the money was spent on... doing something more productive for the city as a whole."

Completely agree.

"Whats funny to me is all the opponents to light rail and other improvements to city infrastructure have no qualms with dropping multi-millions on freeway art."

Huh? I certainly don't feel that way. Wasted tax money is wasted tax money is wasted tax money.
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Old 01-05-2010, 12:41 AM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
223 posts, read 594,464 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cmist View Post
So many people coming here from out of state cite "clean freeways" as this major asset to living here, if not the #1 thing they love about it here... and I don't really get it. When I'm able to move, this would be the LAST of my concerns.

I've been on bland freeways for long stretches in other states and just crank the radio up and buzz by without turning my neck once. When driving from point A to point B at 80mph+, I have little time to take in all the breathtaking art. Now think about this as part of your 9-5 grind daily commute, how long before you don't even give a crap anymore about concrete geckos, etc.?
...
Well, I understand your sentiment, and I'd think someone was pretty shallow to consider this a #1 attraction of the city, but - I've been spending about 3 weeks a month here in PHX, and a week back in the Bay Area where I have a home. The Bay Area is stunningly beautiful in many ways - bridges, bays, hills, mountains, ocean, etc - but the freeway from the Bay Bridge in SF down to the airport, where I have to drive every day, is pretty grim - run-down buildings, ugly billboards, horrendous traffic, etc. When I come back to PHX, and drive from the airport to 101 to Shea, I'm always impressed and it makes me feel glad to be here.

Now, 'glad to be here' may seem trivial, but - I have some influence over where my company locates resources. Do I want to build out my department near the SF airport, where traffic is bad, and the freeways ugly, or here in PHX where I feel 'glad to be here' ... ? That's the intagible value that makes this NOT a waste of taxpayer money. Same applies to the airport, btw (at least Terminal 4 ...) I always like flying in/out of PHX - the restaurants are good, the art attractive; this also has a positive effect on the 'overall experience' of doing business here in PHX (last year I used to fly in/out of Philadelphia ... what an utterly depressing airport!).

Writing the above makes me also realise another great thing about the freeways here - NO BILLBOARDS! I absolutely detest them and have always found them to be a blight. And there are none around here, at least not where I drive. Whoever made that happen deseves a prize!
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Old 01-05-2010, 07:31 AM
 
Location: Cypress, TX
587 posts, read 1,416,236 times
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Originally Posted by Steerpike View Post
Writing the above makes me also realise another great thing about the freeways here - NO BILLBOARDS! I absolutely detest them and have always found them to be a blight. And there are none around here, at least not where I drive. Whoever made that happen deseves a prize!
Heh. Haven't spend much time on I10 or I17, have you?
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Old 01-05-2010, 08:30 AM
 
Location: AZ
1,465 posts, read 4,562,714 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steerpike View Post
Well, I understand your sentiment, and I'd think someone was pretty shallow to consider this a #1 attraction of the city, but - I've been spending about 3 weeks a month here in PHX, and a week back in the Bay Area where I have a home. The Bay Area is stunningly beautiful in many ways - bridges, bays, hills, mountains, ocean, etc - but the freeway from the Bay Bridge in SF down to the airport, where I have to drive every day, is pretty grim - run-down buildings, ugly billboards, horrendous traffic, etc. When I come back to PHX, and drive from the airport to 101 to Shea, I'm always impressed and it makes me feel glad to be here.
Exactly. I felt very similar. When driving in MN in the dead of winter, then getting to Phoenix, you feel very glad to be there. Things just look nice. Like I said, things just aren't attractive with MN freeways. Also in the winter, there's not much natural beauty here, as there are mounds of snow and the trees don't have any leaves. At least in the SF Bay area it seems if the freeway looks run down, you got other nice things to look at.

I don't know about anyone else, but if there's just a very bland stretch of road and you're driving alone, and there's nothing to see for miles, I get sleepy. I could have had the best night's sleep, but I get sleepy. I didn't feel that way driving in Phoenix though. There was always something interesting to look at, whether it be freeway decorations or mountains.
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Old 01-05-2010, 09:44 AM
 
Location: Yes
2,667 posts, read 6,759,644 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steerpike View Post
Now, 'glad to be here' may seem trivial, but - I have some influence over where my company locates resources. Do I want to build out my department near the SF airport, where traffic is bad, and the freeways ugly, or here in PHX where I feel 'glad to be here' ... ? That's the intagible value that makes this NOT a waste of taxpayer money. Same applies to the airport, btw (at least Terminal 4 ...) I always like flying in/out of PHX - the restaurants are good, the art attractive; this also has a positive effect on the 'overall experience' of doing business here in PHX
Very true. Can't tell you how much more attractive Saint Louis (at least the middle portion) looks after the re-construction of I-64, even though there is no art. Atmosphere (even if speaking of driving down a highway) is very important to business.

Anyone have any "drive-by" pics of what the OP is talking about? Been about 3 years since I have been to Phoenix. Don't remember quite what the 101 looked like. I do remember nice roads overall though, but I usually stay in Tempe.
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Old 01-05-2010, 09:57 AM
 
9,091 posts, read 19,161,681 times
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As noted previously in the thread i'm sure most of the cost is carried by the city and most of that will come from their public arts fund

I know in Avondale they are putting up some ugly stuff - a lot of it comes from the cities though
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:10 AM
 
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There was a cartoon in the West Valley View a few weeks back. It had the wall on the north-side of I-10 between (basically) Avondale Blvd and Dysart Rd--the one with the dragonflies. Standing in front of the wall, a city councelman was telling someone else, "The dragonflies on this wall represent the dragonflies living along the Ague Fria River--and we got the art at such a great price! Isn't it nice?"
The next caption shows the same two people, but the wall now has people with their heads down and hands in their pockets instead of dragonflies. "This wall," the city councelman said, "represents the laid off city employees that are now living under the Agua Fria overpass because we could not afford their salaries after paying for the dragonfly wall."

It was something like that.
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Old 01-05-2010, 10:13 AM
 
9,091 posts, read 19,161,681 times
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the tires and bolts thing on the underpass of Avondale Blvd is worse

however, with that stuff if you have ad hoc monies that must be spent on public art then it's kind of a straw man to say that it's costing another position

that then brings up a bigger, side discusion about the intelligence of having hard lined budget items
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