What Kind of Idiot….
…would put a bench facing a blank wall six feet away. Oops, forgot – those bars in the blocked up windows are a real attraction. Seriously, has any sober person ever sat on this bench?
By the way, this 90s remuddle of Fullerton’s first Masonic Temple that you see was subsidized by us – the taxpayers of Fullerton – and approved by the Redevelopment Agency “experts” and the city council. Be sure to thank Molly McClanahan and Don Bankhead next time you see them.
Yes, I’ve often wondered about that very same bench. My neighbor tells me there used to be one of those old wood slat benches on that same spot – courtesy of Redevelopment. So when they switched out later they just plunked the new benches down in the same spots as the old ones.
A classic example of bureaucratic inertia. Make a stupid mistake and just keep doing it!
I like the “Parkers Building”, and there’s nothing wrong with the way the bench faces, as a matter of fact I told the installer to put it that way! You people have no appreciation for stupid, ugly, and useless. I don’t like what you’re blog is accomplishing, my old friends are talking about this at city hall, if you don’t stop this non sense, I’m going to hold my breath until you stop.
I’m retired now and that’s my favorite place to stop and relax, under a tree that’s lifting the curb, gutter and sidewalk, looking at a historic stuccoed building with stuccoed in windows and an air conditioner ready to fall on my head. What more could anyone ask for.
Hey wait a minute, I like the trees, the nasty spikes, and the pods that fall on people. So what if they have ruined the sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and cause people harm. 🙂
Facing it the wrong way makes it easier to lock a bike to it. There are very few bike racks downtown, and the ones that are there (in matching forest green) are installed so close to walls that a wheel can’t be put through it completely. As a result, people lock up parallel to them, taking up the whole rack with one or two bikes. So, I guess it does have a function, just not for sitting.
Matt, then why not just put a bike rack there and move the bench to some place someone might actually sit. Those messed-up bike racks you describe are just more examples of non-functional street furniture placed not for utility, but because someone was enamored with the idea of street furniture.
See, the problem is nobody has ever done an inventory of Fullerton Redevelopment nonsense – until now.
I guess people aren’t going to like having names attached to boondoggles and idiocy, but it’s about time.
Well, I actually wouldn’t lock my bike to that bench because it’s not a good spot for a bike rack or a bench, as you suggest. Maybe it was meant as a resting spot for drunks from the downtown bars.
I am enjoying the inventory.
Steven, thanks for your comment, and now that you have brought up the trees, I think we might do a post on the trees 🙂
To be fair, not one freemason has ever escaped since those bars were put up.