Monday, November 12, 2007

Fountains, Fountains... Everywhere


We recently stumbled across this article from the St. Petersburg Times. Go ahead and read it, we'll wait.

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It seems that Tampa has found the maintenance costs of fountains to be worrisome. Not once, but twice. First, they received a donated sculptural fountain to go outside the Tampa Convention Center in 1991. By 2000, after spending $250,000 over 9 years to maintain it, they returned it to the developer who donated it.

Now they face the maintenance costs for a water fountain built by the Department of Transportation, who is turning over ownership and ongoing maintenance to the city.

Do you suppose it would be wishful thinking to say that "the third time's the charm?"

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been down to the roundabout several times. I think it is a very dangerous area to travel in. I now intentionally try to avoid it. If there is a fountain there it will only serve to block visibility of traffic. What are these people thinking of? We don't need a killer fountain.

Anonymous said...

I know I am going to be attacked by your other readers on this, mainly because I am not following the Wayne Who party line, but here it goes.

MY GOD, DROP THE FOUNTAIN ISSUE ALREADY!!!!

There has to be something more important going on in the City then fountains.

Even when you don't write about the fountains, your readers bring it up.

I am guessing that your readers aren't smart enough to handle a real issue and that is why they are fixated on the fountain issue.

I know, you think I am being mean, but based on the last several months of postings, most everyone that write for or to this blog has a mean streak a mile long.

Did it every occur to anyone that such a negative out pouring does as much damage as all the crap you complain about?

I'd like to challenge everyone to post at least one positive thing to this blog. And if you can't, move to California with that other guy.

And one more thing: I GET IT, A TAX IS A FEE AND A FEE IS A TAX. WE GOT TO PAY IT, SO WHO CARES WHAT YOU CALL IT. CALL IT "SALLY" FOR ALL I CARE, JUST LET IT GO.

Anonymous said...

I would register in the Wayne Who party in a second! The fact that I already dropped the republican party and registered as an independent should serve as some notice that some of us are sick of politicians that will kick the elderly to the curb and instead pay for a fountain that we can not afford to maintain. And for the poster who wants to see something positive posted, why not ask the same thing of your government? Ask them to do something positive for the people! Instead of forcing the Council on Aging into the position of begging on the side of the road (which of course is against the law), find a way to cut the spending on stupid stuff and fix this community. That would be positive.

Thank you Wayne Who for pointing out the issues. I am still amazed at how upset some people get over un-news!

Anonymous said...

Mean streak?? I am not sure how the truth, or at least a different opinion, can be called a mean streak?

I know I will be showing a real mean streak to the so called politicians who are running for election again. There is not one sitting politician that I will vote for because I believe that we need to LET THEM GO!

Anonymous said...

Let it go? Tell Jim Swan to stop whining about how bad the State is. Maybe that joker need to let it go. I find it sad that the state has had to step in because and force the issue of reducing spending because of issues just like this fountain. Ask the families in losing their homes this holiday season how happy they are about the fountain.

Anonymous said...

I find it funny that the person who wants Wayne Who to stop posting negative attacking the wrong source. I had to do a double take on the un-news article provided by Wayne Who to find any negativity, and the only place I found any was in the St. Petersburg Times article where they lay out the fact that Tampa City officials are not sure they can afford the upkeep of a fountain. I guess the poster would like to the WayneWho writers pretend that real news does not exists, and only push the party line pumped out by the city. Isn't that why the city has its own TV station? Keep writing Wayne, you have changed my mind on alot of issues!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for getting everyone on track with being positive. I think that this is the way to go. From now on, I will always be positive.

I am positive that we don't need tax dollars going to a fountain!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I have to agree that I feel better now that someone has told us to be positive about what our local governments are doing. Tax money being spend on Birthday celebrations, All American City awards, Farmer's Markets, and fountains for the homeless (the perpetually out-of-doors) to bath in seem positively great examples of the changes we need to make in our government. I am positive we need to vote these people out of office.

Anonymous said...

So the pro-government blogger believes that the people should just shut up and not ask questions once the politico's make a decision. Sounds like communism to me! I know that is what the commission would like, but that is not the American way of doing business.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the commission buddy poster that there is alot of crap to complain about. I do not think that the complaining about it does more damage than the crap these idiots are doing, but there is alot of crap to complain about.

One thing that should be complained about is the fact that if one tax-funded group "Kissimmee Main Street" and the cities new farmers market are going to recieve advertising on the taxpayers dime, then why not the other tax funded groups? There are alot of groups out their that need some help after having their budgets slashed, so why not help them with some free advertising?

Anonymous said...

Here is a positive post. Jeanne Van Meter has elected not to run for her seat in the city. That is something very positive. Now we can only hope that Gemskie and Swan decided not to run again.

Anonymous said...

So are we not allowed to talk about fountains at all? I don't even see in this article where Wayne made a reference to the fountain mess here in the city. This was just a generic article on another city. I think someone is taking all of this stuff way to seriously.

Anonymous said...

Good job Jeanne! how about another fountain on Doverplum? By the way that's in Poinciana just in case you didn't know that. Then again, your a City Commissioner that has never been in McLaren Circle because why?
What makes us feel that you would go to Poinciana? Shame on you.

Anonymous said...

I find it odd that the anti-Wayne Who blogger brought up taxes/fees in his/her post. The last mention on taxes was last Wednesday and was in reference to economic decision in the Corporate World of Wal-Mart. Yet, it sounds like this blogger thinks it is ok for the commission to whine about taxes week after week. All they want are new taxes and fees, with no accountablity for what they do, and you think that is OK? Strange?

Anonymous said...

Positive articles? That is what the Osceola Ad-zette is for. Print what ever the local governments want you to print. And as the one of the other people said, that is why the city has its own TV chanel. I would much rather ready the un-news, than junk in the paper.