Courthouse parking deck to be painted?
April 27, 2010 | 1:50 pm
DRAMATIZATION
Maybe possibly perhaps coming to Decatur soon: Extreme Makeover: Concrete Municipal Parking Lot Edition!
Lain Shakespeare reports one of the ideas discussed at this morning’s Decatur Strategic Plan Meeting was livening-up downtown by painting the courthouse parking deck, a.k.a. the tiered concrete bunker at Commerce and W. Trinity. He included in his note examples of similar projects elsewhere.
Just one substitute bloggers opinion, but why the heck not? As long as the deck is there, we should try to make the best use of it. At the moment, the deck isn’t just ugly, but also mostly empty at night. Some bright colors, a Banksy-ing, or even a Bob Ross-ing could reduce the ugliness although, honestly, I think the bad lighting and creepy stairwells contribute more to after-dark underuse than the deck’s drab exterior.
(Post by Sherwin Williams Andisheh Nouraee, filling-in for Mr. DM)
thanks for the Bob Ross LOL–needed that.
I lol’d at DRAMATIZATION
What color should it be?
I think a lovely salmon would catch the light from the setting sun just so, and beckon parking-seekers to it from all corners.
Seriously– why not Decatur-themed murals (a la the big deck for Underground)?
Salmon? Where are we? Boca Raton?
Only in our minds, lump– only in our minds.
Excellent that parking lot will be spruced up. Agree that better lighting is needed too to convey a safer ambience. I would vote for colors matching the Decatur logo but anything but army green would probably be an improvement.
Just so there’s no confusion, it was an idea discussed at a planning meeting – not a plan of action or even a formal proposal.
Decatur Metro posters don’t run Decatur? How disappointing!
AS, you are brilliant.
I mean AN
!
Love the photo – and the idea that the parking deck will get the “happy trees” Bob Ross treatment….
As long as Bob Ross paints the happy little trees using his fan brush and the trunks contain van dyke brown and possibly a little stream, it will work for me.
By the way, I like that it is empty in the evenings. Makes it very easy for me to find a spot when Hubbs and I run to dinner.
I wish Banksy would come to Decatur!
Good call.
Ahem…
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/10/04/129-banksy/
Oh my gosh! I can’t stop laughing! I am guilty of about 1/3 of the SWPL list, but it still never fails to crack me up!
(I do like the graffiti idea– with local talent.)
Because thestuffwhitepeoplelike guy says it, doesn’t it so.
Paint it with invisible paint.
The zombies could still find it.
That’s when Rule #25 (Shoot First) and Rule #2 (The Double Tap) come in handy.
oh oh! Please don’t paint it! Put in a vertical garden! This is the perfect spot for one in Decatur!
Google “vertical garden wall” or “Patrick Blanc”, for examples.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden just put one in.
The dramatization is Onion worthy. – SMWLU!
Lipstick on a pig is still a pig.
But it sure looks fancy for awhile!
Maybe they’d let us have a B.Y.O.P. Party?
I like the idea, but there are a few problems. The County, not the City, owns the parking deck, and they’re facing a rather large budget shortfall. And if I’m not mistaken, the deck is reaching the end of its usable life, and the County has at least tentative plans to demolish the deck, build a new County office building in its place, relocate the parking deck across Trinity in the current location of the Calloway Building along with some mixed use development, and sell the current Maloof Building and property to a private developer. When I heard about these plans last summer, they were very preliminary, and the County would need some serious capital money to undertake them.
Surely not in that order? No deck= courthouse chaos!
No, people would just keep driving around the McDonough St loop like they do now.
That is one righteous fro!
What about a painter/mural competition to see who has the most creative idea about how to spruce it up? Then let people vote. Decatur Idol!
We discussed the same idea on our round table group — anything to make the existing deck brighter and more appealing. Paint and light would go a long way, even if it’s a joint venture between the City of Decatur that needs the parking at night and the county that needs the money. I don’t even think people would mind paying if the deck was bright and felt clean and safe.
Let’s keep those great ideas coming to make Decatur even better.
That dramatization is utter genius. GENUIS.
Painting would help it look better, but not make it any safer per se. I don’t think its unsafe now, at least I haven’t seen or heard of any incidents.
I don’t think it’s underused because folks think it’s dangerous either. I think they just don’t know about the great free parking times offered. The County folks aren’t going to put up a big sign at the entrance because it’d cut their revenues if everyone just waited until after 6 to leave.
Blogs Power! Spread the word! (And include the info on all Events releases.)
[It would be helpful if the County would replace the missing main level exit arrow sign.]
What’s going on with this site??? How is it that Alice & Tony are saying, verbatim, the same thing– but 10 hours apart? This happened on another thread yesterday. Who’s messing with the fabric of the universe?
Sorry cuba. I’ve been getting hit with spam that copies what other’s have written and then puts some weird link in the person’s name.
The site catches them automatically, but I guess a couple have gotten through in the past few days as I’ve been doing a lot of running around (and not sleeping!)
Eh, no worries, chico– you’ve got enough on your plate. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining things…
Is baby DM here?!?!? I think someone else asked that as well, but I didn’t see the answer. If so, congrats!
He is! Thanks KC!
Wonderful news!
Freaky. My neighbors directly across the street had a baby Tuesday afternoon. I briefly suspected you and the gentleman there were one in the same (once, at a party, he said “Hey, are you lumpintheroad on Decatur Metro?” right around the same time the picture on the site was of our street), but your real names are different. UNLESS THAT’S DELIBERATE MISDIRECTION. **whipping off glasses in a dramatic fashion**
In any event, sincere congratulations on bringing Decatur Micro into this world!
Congrats! Is he #1? If so, can we start a thread about new baby advice?
P.S.: Boys are so much EASIER than girls these days! I know of what I am speaking!
As long as it’s not one of those shi**y kiddie murals you see around town. Great – art done by first graders. OMG you dipped your hand in paint and then pressed it on the wall: genius! Actually, I like the idea of a vertical garder but it sounds like a maintenace nightmare. Don’t they usually end up dying?
For instance:
http://www.muralarts.org/
Just saying.