Saturday Santa Rosa opened its new town square, which it built at great cost, after closing the city’s main street permanently. The voters weren’t consulted. As far as I can tell, this project was sold as a helpful change for businesses situated near the square. The idea was to drive away the many homeless and turn the downtown area into an attraction for the few people who could find parking. Three or four businesses, including my favorite restaurant, failed and vanished during the blight of construction.
The end result is a expanse of concrete that would irritate Joseph Stalin. The ugliness of the square might help achieve one of its goals: what homeless teenager will choose to linger on a block-wide cement field? What abandoned mental patient will sit on the flat surface in the rain or under a baking sun?
The good town squares (Sonoma, Healdsburg, even Windsor) are solid grass and trees and benches, earthy smells and deep shade. Santa Rosa chose to create a brutal eyesore unfit for human use. And the chuckle-headed city leaders could not be happier.
No comments:
Post a Comment