|
The designers say that the reason they want to eliminate the outer portion of the circle is that people can't pull themselves
up on the high walls.
Have they really looked at the walls? There are actually three levels of seating. One higher and one lower facing the
circle, and a still lower one facing outside towards the green areas. During the day, the seating areas are often in shade
because of the trees in each corner unit.
On a Saturday night, people fill all three levels in one or more of the corners when the music gets rolling.
The current and well-designed arrangement allows many small groups to meet, talk, sunbathe, and perform. The new circular
arrangement will be unfocused and unorganized, not conducive to performance and private conversation groups.
The picture below is an approximation, not to exact scale, but shows the brilliance of the original design as 8 dual performance
and speaking areas. That's right, there are 8 of them. The new plans have NONE of them.
Another excuse for destroying the seating areas is that the Parks Department says that the large and beautiful shade trees
in each of the 8 seating areas are dying and need to be taken down. They seem very healthy, except for one which looks like
it needs some pruning and fertilization. Once the trees are gone, shade in the park will be a long time coming again, since
they will be planting new trees to replace them.
|
