Love for Smiley
In the day or so since it was first announced that the city wanted to demolish Smiley, it seems as though things may be looking up for our old friend. Word about the proposed demolition has spread like wildfire and much of the community seems to already be saying that it would be a sad day in Grand Forks if Smiley no longer grinned at us as each time we drove down Washington Street. Read Tu-Uyen's story in today Herald.
I'm pleased to see that so many people are making their voices heard on this matter. Almost everyone seems to be speaking out in Smiley's favor. I have yet to hear from many people who don't want to see at least some effort put into saving the landmark. Dakota Huseby is proposing a "Smiley Days" benefit to raise money for restoration. That's a great idea. I think there are probably many great ideas out there for raising money. In the long run, a couple hundred thousand dollars is truly not that much for a city of 55,000 people to raise. I don't think it would be that hard to get people to shell out a few dollars to save Smiley.
Let's make this happen! Save Smiley!
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17 comments:
GFG,
You seem to be one of the few remaining organic GF sites to reliably post new stories.
Have Another GF Blog and My Grand Forks lost interest?
Hey we can start the "who is a real organic blogger" thread..
The "Anonymous Blog" blogger has already started.
Let the thrrrrrrread begin....
Just kidding!
I'm glad GFG is on top of things.
Well, I can see that I'm a minority on this issue, but I'd actually like to see the tower taken down. I think the tower makes the city of Grand Forks look more "small town". People visiting Grand Forks (I would think) see the tower and laugh at it and think it's funny more so than to see it as being neat/cool.
Just my opionion.
What's an "organic" site/blog? One that isn't attached to any media outlet? That's what I'm guessing.
I'm happy that, even though this isn't a blog connected to any big media outlet, I get a large readership each day. I just recently went over an average of 200 visits (not hits) each day. If it wasn't for those pesky weekends when nobody is online, the average per day would be higher. Many weekdays I get 250+ views.
Enough with the bragging.
I don't really think the watertower makes us look small town. There is just something too "pop art" about the tower to look small town. It's not like we have the name of our town up there or something. The smiley face is more unique.
In today's world, can it hurt to have a giant face smiling down on the busiest road in town? I don't think so.
I'm fairly new to GF, and thus a fresh set of eyes. I've thought that the tower made GF look "small town" right from the moment I saw it. It made me feel as though the town I was moving to was stuck in the 1950s, and the smile didn't offset the rust and decay.
I'll try to make my site more organic. I was focusing too much on it being free trade.
I say that GF really is a small town and removing a water tower is not going to change that fact or stop anyone from figuring it out. I'm for keeping Smiley cuz to me its a part of GF like the Red Pepper, the Kegs, Whiteys (I know EGF), Sanders, and all the other local places.
someone should just buy the tower and place it in their backyard.
To the last anonymous, GF is not a small town. According to the US Census Bureau, anything larger than 25,000 people is a city. One expert in small town living, Norman Crampton, defines a small town as 5K-15K people, which again excludes GF.
I know it's an argument in semantics, but what I'm saying is that a trashy looking, run down water tower does not help to reinforce our image as living in a "Grand City."
What is "our image as living in a Grand City?"
http://www.visitgrandforks.com/main.php
"Grand fun. Grand shopping. Grand dining. Greater Grand Forks."
Let's not forget "Simply Grand."
someone should just buy the tower and place it in their backyard.
That would be one big backyard. Also, the city wouldn't allow anything like that on a residential property so it would have to go outside of the city which would defeat the purpose of saving a bit of Grand Forks unique identity.
a trashy looking, run down water tower does not help to reinforce our image as living in a "Grand City."
How would a nice looking, completely refurbished water tower be? That's what I hope/think is going to end up happening.
How would a nice looking, completely refurbished water tower be? That's what I hope/think is going to end up happening.
Perfect. I'd donate my share to refurb it, even though it would serve no purpose other than to give an aura of quaintness. All I'm saying is it looks like crap the way it is, and makes the city take on an aura of crapness.
Or is it "crapiness"?
i know the city wouldn't allow it in somebody's backyard but it would be funny.
I am posting this again in this post as it is most recent one for Mr. Smiley
here is a petition that was posted in the group "Save Mr. Smiley from demolitoin!!!" on facebook (a group that currently has 261 members at the time of this post). I though i would post it here for everyone else :)
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Kelsey Jacobson wrote
on Nov 23, 2006 at 6:43 PM
Happy Thanksgiving! So far, all I can get started on right now is an online petition... I am going to wait on an actual petition until I see what the city council says at their next meeting regarding Mr. Smiley since i'm out of town for the holidays.
PLEASE, sign this petition and we'll see if we even need another one!
http://www.gopetition.com/online/10268.html
Thank you!!!
Kels
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