Urban Beautification

This is the greening project the horticultural class did at our school this year. It's a stage area for classes - drama, music, or just a teacher dominatin the space - surrounded by grass, trees, and shrubbery. The view is from the top of the hill looking down. It's a great place to bring a class to read or discuss an issue. We're doing presentations right now, and unfortunately many students are stuck on using power point, so we can't work outside.


Here we're sitting in the audience with a lovely view of the back of the school. By way of contrast, here's the new city square created to draw people in to sit for lunch and create community. It's
got a lovely view of an above ground parking lot.

Mayor Brenda Halloran claims the square "will be a real focal point." Without a water feature, I'm not sure what the draw will be besides occasional musicians. But will people want to hang out in the sun? Apparently there will be some trees coming, and someone will be paid $80,000/year to organize events on an on-going basis. So it might all be wonderful after all. This photo was taken at noon on a sunny Saturday and the place wasn't so much a hub of activity as a desolate wasteland. But there will be time...

And here's the riffraff (he's my riffraff) that starts hanging around when there's no groundcover to jam up the wheels: And here he is with the piece of urban art in the background: