tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post676854673937335837..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: The Mixed Blessing of Salem's Unmixed Downtown Office ParksSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-58993319467158910302009-12-28T18:21:29.079-08:002009-12-28T18:21:29.079-08:00Totally agree! Don't like the Brutalism, eith...Totally agree! Don't like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture" rel="nofollow">Brutalism</a>, either. It hasn't aged well at all - just as you say: it's ugly, forbidding, and fortress-like. Surely Peace Plaza's deadness is not all the sort of peace its designers intended. (Check out all the people and the bikes at <a href="http://photos.salemhistory.net/u?/sj,273" rel="nofollow">the dedication</a>!) <br /><br />Good luck with the chess effort! That's a fine idea for fair weather!<br /><br />Hopefully the Boise project's efforts to daylight the creek will create more traffic along the pond, and <a href="http://www.waterplacesalem.com/" rel="nofollow">Waterplace</a> also adds more potential users to the mix. Still, I fear these will be too spaced-out and isolated. Even the shops, barber, and restaurant under the Pringle Parkade aren't enough to make Mill Race Park very lively.Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-55507503768762606622009-12-28T13:58:38.158-08:002009-12-28T13:58:38.158-08:00I was just thinking along the same lines because I...I was just thinking along the same lines because I found myself pondering again why "Peace Plaza" is so unloved and so unlovable.<br /><br />The whole city center (Vern Miller) complex looks like Albert Speer designed it -- ugly, hulking brutalist architecture that looks like it could have been a set in a movie version of 1984. Bikes supposed to park in the rain, cars get nice covered parking. Even the pleasant little pond is unloved and barely used because there are no amenities to make it welcoming. <br /><br />I sent a note to Chuck Bennett suggesting that I would be happy to lead an effort to raise money to buy a bunch of these chess/checker tables and stools, if we could get the parks folks to agree to install them -- I figure six in Peace Plaza and then three or four down by the pond in a row -- nice playing tables and good for having lunch or a snack.<br /><br />http://www.concrete-classics.com/Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12731260619465817652noreply@blogger.com