I've found that the city has a few extra of the park bench/tables (ex. outside of BW3's) at its disposal. I'm thinking about tastefully placing a few in the green space throughout both islands in central square - want to see if given the option, would people be interested in using them for lunch, laptops (if they can access wireless through independent provider), etc. What do you think of the idea?
Phil
Love that idea! The square should be a place that people can meet, hang out, and watch the city move around them, but there's nowhere to stop and hangout, or eat lunch. Everytime I get to the square, before I know it I'm out the otherside already, I would love to be able to get lunch and go sit and watch the hustle and bustle.
Without knowing how many there are, I think putting these tables on the other quadrants of the plaza to break up the "sea of concrete" feel would be better than putting them on the green space in the center. I think the constant traffic on Market might be overwhelming to someone sitting at that location. Just my opinion.
I agree with Westsider for the most part. I wouldn't feel comfortable on the monument islands with traffic passing by on all sides.
I also agree that the concrete slabs at the corners of the square are a problem. On a sunny summer day, the corner near National City Bank is like being on a white sand beach. It is extremely hot with the sun glaring off the cement.
In looking back over old photos of the two islands, and particulairly the North island where the fountain was located, there were benches, but on the South island where the monument is, four Civil War cannons took up much of the space, but there were a couple of benches for the convience of street car riders.
I'll post a few of the early shots on my webshots site so you can see how these islands were used in earlier times.
Here is the link: http://community.webshots.com/user/ladynews500