Applesauce Adornment

Before I get to applesauce, I'd like to share with you the excitement I encountered as soon as I stepped out onto the Riverwalk this morning.  First, just as I stepped off the porch, before I even got to the Riverwalk, I knew something was up:

See what that trailer says? It says, "SHERIFF."

And here's what I encountered once I got down to the Riverwalk:

Divers appear to be lookin' for something!

And the law is on their side, if ya know what I mean.

The one guy's jacket says, in big, bold, yellow letters, "HOMICIDE."  Now, you know I'm intrigued!

They told me they were "training," so after I watched for a while and decided that maybe they were telling me the truth, I strolled on ...

It's been a while since I've offered a photo of the gimp tree.  Here she is, looking hardly gimp at all!

But not to worry -- She's still gimp -- Look at her other side:

Strollin' on up the River ... a little remaindering atop a post in the South Fishing Well:

And an update on the state of affairs at the Eagle and Phenix Powerhouse, photos taken this morning:

 

A historic preservationist friend of mine who shall remain nameless but whose initials are J.L. called the "surgery" that has been performed on this historic machinery "a travesty," and he further stated that the destruction of this historic property gives reason for de-classification of our Riverfront as a National Historic Landmark.  Shame on the folks responsible for this!

Okay, now that I've had my say about that nasty subject, it's applesauce time.  Heading back south from the Powerhouse, I happened to notice ...

And then I noticed the next post and the next and the next ...

Seven posts in a row sported applesauce containers!  Can you see them?  I was so inspired that I wrote a poem:

What immortal hand or eye

Placed applesauce on posts so high?

(With sincere apologies to William Blake as well as to any other poet who ever lived.)

Ciao, and see you on the Riverwalk ...

Cathy

I'm Worried ...

... that the Powerhouse might not be able to withstand this sort of pressure. I don't think it was designed to.

Now I'll back up and show you the larger picture:

To more pleasant subjects -- Take a look at the beach bum I found on the Riverwalk yesterday:

Cute, huh?  Grandson Amos Henry Harvey is almost as big a fan of the Riverwalk as I am.


One last photo before I end this post:

A shot from a few days ago, of the construction on the Fourteenth Street Bridge.

Cave-In

A section of the Riverwalk caved in today (11/5). I didn't find out till nighttime, so I haven't been down there to check it out yet -- will go first thing in the morning -- but the Columbus Ledger Enquirer says, "A 45-foot chunk of the Chattahoochee RiverWalk, exposed to shifting river currents amid the construction of a whitewater rafting course, caved in this afternoon."

Read more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/11/05/1807287/section-of-chattahoochee-riverwalk.html#ixzz1csslAgQf

For purposes of not very scientific documentation, I'll offer these several photographs.  Here's one from pre-whitewater construction, back last year:

You who are regular readers of this blog know that I've long had a fascination with this machinery that I call "the stomach," located within the Eagle and Phenix Powerhouse.

Now here are several photos of the same piece of machinery, a few weeks ago, after the whitewater construction was begun and the water diverted through the Powerhouse:

 

 

 

While the whitewater course is being constructed, every single drop of the River's flow has been diverted away from the dam and through the Powerhouse and its "stomach."

Scarey, huh? I couldn't stand there very long without being freaked out (and without getting me and my camera wet).

Then, I was out of town for two weeks and came back to this:

 

The stomach has busted open!  Or, more likely, it's undergone some surgery so that it might be able to accommodate all that water. 

Here's another view to show you how much water has lately been diverted directly toward the section of the Riverwalk that caved in today (Photo taken a few days before the cave-in):

Morning after cave-in:

The area is cordoned off so that I can't get close enough to get a photo of the cave-in itself -- but the Ledger-Enquirer article posted above has a good shot of it.

I'm no engineer, but it seems a little strange to me that somebody didn't anticipate this. 

R U READY 2 RAFT?

Okay – For a long time now I’ve been avoiding addressing this question on this blog. Why? Maybe I was afraid of being accused of being negative or cynical (I notice that that keeps happening to folks who ask questions about Columbus's whitewater project.), maybe I didn’t want to hurt certain folks’ feelings or make them mad … maybe I’m just chicken. Maybe I wanted to keep this blog mostly positive. But after a bit of soul-searchin’ I finally decided that this whole blog would be completely bogus if I did not address this most important question for our time and our place. So, here it is -- my answer:

NO, I R NOT READY 2 RAFT. I DEFINITELY R NOT READY.

My first reservation has to do with aesthetics. The vista there at Eagle and Phenix dam is inarguably the most beautiful scene in Columbus. It’s certainly the most photographed, the most often rendered by artists. We’ve put it on postcards, on calendars, on websites, on letterhead … First Baptist Church even features it in one of their current television ads!

You know that sculpture of the girl that’s up high on the Riverwalk behind Synovus? That lifelike sculpture of the artist girl?

Well guess what she's drawing:

And now what are we doing? Well, we’re taking this most beautiful vista in the whole region, and we’re altering it. Messin’ with it. Who knows what this beautiful spot will look like when the whitewater project is completed? Do we really want to alter the most beautiful spot in the region?

My second reservation has to do with the fact that the dams that are scheduled to be “breached” are historic structures. We have already lost far too many historic structures on the riverfront and in adjacent downtown Columbus. Do we really want to lose two more?

Fred’s been on a letter writing campaign to try and figure out if there is any comprehensive plan to take advantage of this rare opportunity to execute an archaeological survey – to look carefully at how and when the dams were originally constructed. We just learned, finally, after weeks and weeks of asking, that a contract has very recently been awarded to a fine firm – Southern Research Historic Preservation Consultants, Inc -- but the contract is late in coming (Construction on the course began weeks ago!), and we understand that it is very limited in scope.

My third reservation has to do with the economic projections. Just about the last thing I’d ever claim to be is an economist, but the figures seem inflated. Is the whitewater project really going to create 700 jobs in Columbus? Is it really going to bring in 150,000 visitors each year, producing 40 million dollars in economic impact? At least one expert is skeptical:

From a report by WTVM’s Phil Scoggins --

I talked with the [U.S. National Whitewater] center's director, Jeff Wise, about the Columbus whitewater project. He says, "I do believe from what I've seen that they're going to be able to create some pretty compelling whitewater (in Columbus)." He goes on to say, "If you open up that whitewater component by removing those dams, I guarantee you that people will come down to that river. I have no doubt about that."
Wise was not so certain about the ability of a whitewater experience to generate enough revenue to make it profitable. He adds, "I'm a huge fan of what you're doing if it's about building a compelling part of your downtown. I think that's the reason to do it. But if somebody's looking for something that's going to pay for itself off of rafting revenue, that's scary."

My friend Marquette McKnight and her firm, Media, Marketing … and More!, have done a fantastic job of promoting the whitewater project. Truly, they have. I admire their work. Some of the rest of us, though, have waited far too long to ask questions.

I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that the whitewater course is beautiful, that the appropriate archaeological work is done, that the whitewater project generates even more jobs and revenue than projected. We’ll see.

Destruction/Construction

Here's the very first evidence of the destruction of our historic dams to construct the whitewater course:

 They've built some sort of temporary (I think.) work platform just north of the 13th Street Bridge:

 

To more pleasant subjects ...

The dropped water level is allowing us to see stuff we've never seen before ...

Now that I can see it even better, the cylindrical thing I've been interested in appears not to be a log or tree, but instead to be a piece of machinery.  I think I see seams, and I definitely see a rod extending out the end:

The foundation of an earlier bridge:

 

I know I shouldn't say it, but the new addition to the Russell County Courthouse looks more like it goes with the Family Dollar than with the old Russell County Courthouse:

 

Kudzu's blooming. Smell that Grape Nehi Soda?

Mimosa, too. I love the late summer bloomers ...

Crouched for take off ...

I love, love, love our green wall, and hope like everything that the whitewater construction doesn't destroy this beautiful structure:

 

Several photographers were there this morning photographing the green wall and the water gushing through the Powerhouse:

  

And, lastly, I offer three remainderings of the day:

 

Too bad those last two didn't have a rendez-vous.