Sunday, November 10, 2013

A Modest Proposal: The Post Office

Well, apparently Iowa City doesn't want the Post Office to leave downtown-  Mother Cigar raised a good point at lunch today:  all the rich, elite, retirees that live in their steel and glass condos in the sky probably have PO Boxes and couldn't possibly be expected to go (gasp) south of the highway to get their mail!  (clutches pearls.)

I think the Post Office will end up giving them the big, hairy finger and doing it anyway.  Personally, I think it's a fantastic move for them.  Fiscal health and future stability of the Post Office aside, putting it in Pepperwood Place or down on Boyrum will be a boost to neighborhoods in that area.  There's tons of parking, all of it free and it's not a pain in the ass to get too.  (Not that getting to the Post Office is a pain in the ass now- it can be depending on the time of day, but in general, it's not.)

So let's say it moves (and I hope it does) well, then what, my fellow citizens should we do with such a space?  Another architectural wonder of steel and glass?  More condos for rich people?  A new jail?

Nope.  I think we should turn it into a park.

To be more precise about it, I think we should turn it into a Square.  I'm a fan of Squares.  Philadelphia endeared itself to me greatly by being littered with random squares.  Quiet acres of greenery in the midst of urban chaos.  We just don't do enough squares in this country.  Along with roundabouts and piazzas, it's one of the excellent features of a city that we just can't seem to get behind.  So let's change that.  Let's make a Courthouse Square.

Should it be just any old Square though?  A-ha!   You've seen through my cunning plan!  No, I think we should take a page from Iowa City's history an add statues of the three Governors of the Iowa Territory: Robert Lucas, John Chambers and James Clarke and the three Governors of the State of Iowa that resided here before the Capitol moved in 1857: Ansel Briggs, Stephen Hempstead and James Grimes.  My original thought was to maybe copy what a lot of small towns in Iowa have and construct a town cenotaph/Veterans Memorial but with so many statues, maybe a fountain?  An classical, iconic one?  (Oooh, you could even go big like the Trevi Fountain and incorporate the statues into the fountain.)

Why a Square?  Well, I like me a good piazza/square for one and for two, if you're looking (as the City is) to push the boundaries of downtown southward into the new Riverfront Crossings District, a square/green space like this would be a perfect kickstarter to development in and around that area.  The University won't be in those spaces along Court Street forever-  they'd be perfect for restaurants/cafes/retail- even more so if there was an attractive, well-groomed park to look at.  Ditto for the new development underway for Midwest One on the opposite side of the Post Office. 

Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many business on the east side of the Post Office but I can't imagine they'd be complaining too much if they had a nice park to look at it instead of the backside of the Post Office.   

I think more green space is good, not bad.  I think it would help drive development in that area and do so in a way that doesn't involve another 20-story whatever going up and I think if done right, it could be a tribute to the history and heritage of Iowa City that, apart from that statue of Irving Weber at the corner of Iowa and Linn Street, we recognize far too little. 

We could call it Heritage Square.

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