Asheville City Council will consider a $7.5 million contract at its Tuesday, Nov. 20, meeting that may bring the Pack Square renovation project to completion. The money comes from the Federal Highway Administration and private sources, but like other large grants, must be channeled through the city.
In a related move, Council will also consider a $105,300 contract with Acme Preservation Services to conduct a historic-architecture survey in and around Asheville’s downtown. The project, expected to take two years, comes from a mandate by the Federal Highway Administration and the State Historic Preservation Office after review of the effects of the Pack Square project.
And a former City/County Plaza resident — the Energy Loop sculpture — will play a part in the Public Art Board’s annual report. Alongside the RiverSculpture Festival, the board is touting the restoration of the sculpture in its accomplishments during the past year. The Loop’s reintroduction to the public is slated for 2008, as is the installment of Deco Gecko, a sculpture by the city’s newly named Public Artist of the Year Harry McDaniel.
Click here for the entire agenda.
— Brian Postelle, staff writer
Do NOT get me started on how worthless the Energy Loop is. I’ve got dozens of Energy Loop jokes.
Well, Ralph, I don’t know how long you’ve lived in Asheville, but to those of us who remember what Asheville was like when that sculpture was installed, it is pretty meaningful! Dirk Cruser actually lived and worked here, and the piece was not bought from some mass-producing foundry from God-knows-where!
Connie, I have lived here all my life and I remember well the controversy over the loopy loop. … Well, I warned you guys I had tons of Energy Loop jokes, here’s one of the simpler ones:
Two drunks are sitting in bar drinking. The Energy Loop walks in the door.
The first drunk looks up and says, “Hi Art!”
The second drunk shakes his head in disgust.
“Yer drunk. That ain’t Art, that’s Rusty!”
One more:
Four members of the City Council (fill in names as you think appropriate) and three drunks, one of the latter being the Energy Loop, are sitting in a bar.
The Energy Loop makes a disgusted face, gets up, and leaves.
First drunk turns to second drunk.
“Guess old Rusty’s particular who he drinks with, huh?”
“Nah,” says the second drunk. “He just jealous ’cause they have more claim to artistic merit than he does.”
And finally:
The entire populace of Asheville who see a deep meaning in the Energy Loop, two drunks, and a duck are sitting in a bar (and, believe me, there’s plenty of room left over).
The duck asks the first drunk, “Who was that Energy Loop I saw you with last night.”
The second drunk says, “That was no Energy Loop, that was the entire populace of Asheville who see a deep meaning in the Energy Loop.”
“Oh,” replies the duck. “She was so small I couldn’t tell for sure.”