Decatur Working To Bring More Shade to Square
Decatur Metro | May 26, 2015 | 8:45 amDM has learned that the city is looking to add more shade to Decatur Square.
Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne confirmed the city is working with local architect and artist Amy Landesberg to design a shade structure for the eastern end of the MARTA plaza.
Shade seems to be on the minds of event organizers of late. Sun-shades were put up around the bandstand at this past weekend’s Art Festival. It will be quite interesting to see what this structure looks like once plans are unveiled.
According to their website, Landesberg’s architecture firm, LP3 Architecture, also designed the plans for Fire Station #2 in Oakhurst and the renovations to the Decatur Recreation Center.
Decatur MARTA Plaza Piratepalooza photo courtesy of Christine (circa 2011)
Or they could plant a few trees
+1
Trees won’t work because MARTA doesn’t want anything up there like planters that have the potential to leak water.
Doesn’t rain leak water?
Why errbody wanna throw shade on the square?
gotta give this a little love
pearls before swine, Crambone
pearls before swine
Different topic, but related, what about the grass around the band shell. I know it was re-sodded recently, but it still looks awful. I guess it gets too much traffic, but what is the solution?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/20/california-drought-painting-lawn-green/27632853/
astroturf, obviously
Seriously, this is the solution: http://atlanta.intelliturf.com/
The city had considered it in the past and passed because of installation cost and the fact they thought turf didn’t fit with the historical nature of the Old Courthouse. Maybe they will look again putting turf in areas where it seems they can’t get grass to grow?
Can the flying saucer be removed from DHS during the renovation and relocated to the square?
I will say it was nice seeing the extra shade around the Gazebo/Band Shell, but we did laugh at how redneck the actual solution looked. If it had been really windy, I think at least one of the branches would have been sawed completely through by the rope.
“we did laugh at how redneck the actual solution looked” — you say that like it’s a bad thing.
As a guy who tries to tie tarps to random trees on the occasional camp-out, I thought it was well conceived and frankly genius. Got some ideas for my next camping trip!
Anyone else see Grant Green Jr on Sunday? They rocked, plus I enjoyed watching some dancing that ranged from what you’d see at an old Dead show all the way to some sweet twerking (at least that is what I think it was) from a woman in all royal blue.
I liked the tarps too and didn’t think they seemed tacky, especially because they were colorful. I thought they fit with the artistic whimsy of the festival.
I never said tacky and did, in fact, think the extra shade was nice. The tarps themselves looked good, but even as a temporary solution there were particular friction points between the branches and ropes that would have done damage if either left for too long or if the winds had become heavy for even a few hours. Many redneck solutions do contain genius, however it is more often than not a temporary genius without a lot of thought for long term repercussions. Things that begin with, “Here, hold my beer and let me try this,” are not usually solutions that you want to live with for an extended amount of time.
Or maybe people should just wear sunscreen, hats, and light clothing. There is a simple solution to a problem that doesn’t necessarily need to be fixed with thousands of dollars.
When it is raining, I wear a jacket and bring an umbrella.
–signed, Ron Swanson
Ha! Good one.
Depends on whether the City is trying to actively attract visitors and encourage them to hang out on the plaza or not. A hot, flat impermeable surface with no shade doesn’t encourage a lot of strolling, sitting, people watching, shopping at festivals, etc.
I see your point, but Decatur doesn’t seem to have a problem with attracting visitors. The arts festival was packed. The concerts on the square are packed. The restaurants are packed. Is there something I’m missing?
That’s exactly it. Downtown’s square/plaza is at the heart of our most concentrated economic opportunities. If investments — especially modest ones — can draw more people, make them more comfortable so they stay longer and spend more, then downtown collectively becomes more valuable and ultimately delivers greater returns to the coffers.
The question is whether “livability infrastructure” actually performs as promised. Looking at the value of downtown since the 90s, when the city started such investments in earnest via streetscapes, trees, ped-centric zoning, plaza overhaul, etc., etc., my take would be that they do.
Scott – is Decatur not drawing enough people as it is? If the square was desolate and all the shops/restaurants were closing, I’d agree that we have a problem keeping people at the heart of the city. But as far as I can tell, that’s not the case.
My sense from this blog is that Decatur’s economic survival depends on maximizing the spending on businesses within the city so more people coming to the Square as a destination=good. Problem with that is that too many people decreases the attractiveness of an area as a destination=bad. E.g. Buckhead a few decades ago. So the balance is the trick. Vermont seems to have achieved that, partially through luck and geographic location, and partially through a lot of deliberate planning and regulation. Harder to do without gorgeous mountains, rivers, natural lakes, and a low population density.
Agreed that the discussion over what constitutes “good enough” is an important one for a community to have, and that’s gonna vary from place to place. My angle is that of a property owning taxpayer so, for me, any reasonable investment that squeezes greater value out of our existing downtown infrastructure and assets, the better. The stronger the economic performance of downtown (at least in theory), the smaller the portion of our tax burden that neighborhoods are obligated to carry.
Agreed, except that the taxpayers are the ones who ultimately end up paying for an architect to design plans and a builder/landscaper/streetscaper/etc. to implement those plans.
I tend to agree this is a solution looking for a problem. There are areas nearby that provide shade.
But then there’s the too-many-people-trampling-the-grass problem, right?
I think that the lack of shade is felt during festivals, especially the book festival where people may wait an hour on the square in the sun for a book signing.
Well, IMO, we need more outdoor festivals in the winter, when it’s often more pleasant than the summer anyway. The sun would be an asset then.
I’ve always wondered why one of our biggest festivals (the Book Festival) is held on one of the traditionally warmest (OK, let’s be real: most sweltering) weekends of the year. I mean, I could understand having it on Labor Day weekend if it was, say, Maine–but this is Georgia. Georgia, as in the old adage “hotter than Georgia asphalt”. There’s a reason that saying is a saying!
+ a million
And I’ve always wondered, which is hotter, Georgia asphalt or a hoochie coochie?
A main reason is that it is an available date for such things. There are plenty of book festivals all over the country and that weekend and if you want to have a world-class festival, which ours is, you have to avoid conflicts.
I think it will be nice and a resonable expendature. Better than spending $50K on consultants or renting an acre of land outside the city limits for a garden.
can this solution involve the replacement of the strange turquoise columns?
…that no longer match the décor of the Decatur Diner. (Actually I like the turquoise columns. A quirky touch. And no weirder than the DHS flying saucer entryway that is now closed off to traffic.)
I think this is a great idea.
Let’s not forget that we have lots and lots of seniors who ride their electric wheelchairs up to the square and hang out. It would seem unreasonable to expect them to hang out at Mac McGee’s to catch some shade.
And don’t forget those of us with red hair and pale skin, who get burned just thinking about the sun.
+100 SPF
I do hope these would be seasonal. That plaza is actually quite pleasant on sunny winter days when the grass is often muddy or damp.
Amen. For the majority of the year it is desirable to have the sun. We run the risk of a dark, cold and undesirable space from October through May.
The square needs a fountain, with lots of steps to chillax and hang around. Or maybe a landmark that would be recognizable to all. Something like a Trevi Fountain, Dupont Circle, Space Needle you can bungee jump from
The square needs a few dozen mariachi bands hustling for gigs and toqueros with shock sticks.
What the square needs is more wanna-be Brazilians all dressed in white, beating drums, chanting mumbo-jumbo and pretending they know how to dance or fight or dance-fight.
I thought we had all agreed on a secret seattle-esque plan to make sure no one else moved in so we don’t have to build a kajillion new schools.
The square needs tin foil placed in strategic locations to maximize both heat and glare. Also, we could probably rent those heaters restaurants use outside pretty cheap since it’s Summer….10 or 12 of those and a soup/hot chocolate stand and we are in business.
Admittedly the design of the square with MARTA below creates some difficult challenges, but lots of mistakes were made. Count the number of street lights sometime in the eastern MARTA plaza – over 25 light poles. Note the armpit of the western edge where the MARTA bus stop and new judicial tower meet the square. Behold the turquoise columns, who thought that was a good idea? Finally, placing the bandstand in front of the classic architecture of the Court House and interrupting the terminal view from McDonough street is a complete breakdown in urban design principles.
Agree that the bandstand/gazebo blocks the majestic view. Where else could it go? Maybe on the turquoise tower plaza? It would bring some shade.
For the square to operate as a true performance space, we should have our stage at the far eastern end of the plaza, directly above the station entrance. That’d allow sound, lights and performance to all orient themselves towards just one crowd.
Hear Here.
But the square doesn’t serve the singular purpose of entertainment. Back before the gazebo and the remake of the square, there was a wooden stage for the Concerts on the Square situated where the plaza is now. One of those concerts was performed by the Indigo Girls before they made it big.
Exactly. So the “performance stage” shouldn’t be the focal point as it is now. Putting it at the end of the plaza allows it to maximize what it is (a stage for entertainment to be enjoyed by the largest crowd possible) without dominating the square, which serves so many other functions.
It’s not a gazebo, it’s a bandstand. It’s a dreadful stage for performers, who not only can’t hear themselves properly, but they can’t really be seen by the audience. It’s not a historic structure, and I would be happy to see it go.
+1.
For crying out loud, let’s just build a dome and call it a day!
Isn’t the dome going to be Phase II of the moat development?
The City needs to make sure the area is up to the tree ordinance and make sure they capture 100% of the water run off.
They would mandate this for anyone else.