INGENIOUS TEMPORARY SOLUTION IN PROGRESS!
For a while now we have periodically visited the earthen sculpture in Memorial Park which has been sitting for months behind an orange mesh fence. The first thing was they had a problem with the lettering on the wall which they covered with plywood. Finally, they got this fixed and took away the fence--only to have kids (and possibly some ecstatic Arts Committee members) run all over it. Result: the grass on the top of the sculpture died leaving a barren earth ridge atop the question mark figure. We frankly found the state of the sculpture over this long period to be somewhat distasteful, with no signs of corrective work to be seen. But now we at least have do have a sign, and in Albany a sign usually means that better days are eventually coming.
But the situation was really no joke in that the sculpture, being so unattractive, was also failing to fulfill its ancillary economic development mission--which was, of course, to send out a powerful message reflecting Albany's civic pride to any CEO who might happen to see it. The hope was, of course, that CEOs would be impressed to the point where they might consider relocating their businesses to Albany.
But while things are looking up, the redesign will take time and money, and the Arts Committee, to its great credit, has come up with a wonderful solution to improve the looks of the sculpture in the meantime. No doubt with a special EBMUD exemption in respect to the recently announced water restrictions, the City has been able to launch a "super soaker" watering program, and is now successfully growing the grass around the sculpture to great heights. When the grass is high enough, a consultant from Hair Club for Men will be engaged to show the maintenance workers how to carefully comb the grass over the bald spots.
An unforseen downside to this approach is that burrowing owls like short grass in their habitats so that they can scamper about after all those little rodents they love to eat. According to Audubon folks who can understand their little squeaks and body language, the owls feel that the "long grass repair method" is an attack on their "freedom of habitat choice". They had found the bare dirt question mark to have great habitat potential (see recent "Sightings" article) and now feel like they are being forced out of Memorial Park and pushed onto the Plateau, like Indians herded onto a reservation. In fact when we last visited the site, a protest was in full swing.
