A friend suggested this idea and was very enthusiastic about it. She had a lot of good ideas and it's a forward-thinking project. She also said it would "bring downtown Quincy back to life" and it would "attract people to actually come downtown." Also, we could get the businesses to donate and the paint stores to give us free paint, and the artists could volunteer their time.
Downtown Quincy has a long way to go but it isn't dead, and a fancy crosswalk won't bring a gazillion tourists. But it would add a lot of flavor and help us stand out, for sure.
Why is it artists always have to "volunteer" their time? They have amazing skills and deserve to be compensated, even more so for a public piece. I would volunteer time to help it get done, and I'm all for community service, but why not make it worth the while for the artist actually doing the work? Yup, WORK. Like you and I do to get paid.
Then there's paint and the road. How long would it last? Fifth and Maine is busy, you know. How would we maintain it? Who is in charge of repainting it if it wears out? Is it legal to paint on the road? Would we have to get permit or waive some sort of zoning thing? All stuff to figure out.
Fourth and Maine would be a nightmare. For one thing, I think it's a state highway so who knows what kind of red tape you'd have to go through. And closing the intersection, even on a Sunday, would be next to impossible. Streets would have to close and all the work would have to be done on a Sunday to minimize the impact on our downtown businesses.
I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer here. I'm all for the idea, and I'll start pushing it to some of our movers and shakers in town. We need to do stuff like this because Quincy tends to stand still and resist change. Tempered with reality, it should be considered and maybe we can add some color and flavor to our downtown.
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