EDITORIAL – Lansdowne parkade mural is a spectacular piece of public art
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
THE NEXT TIME YOU’RE DRIVING down Lansdowne Street, enjoying the reconstruction traffic, look left as you pass the City parkade. You’ll probably have time to do this in the slow-moving traffic.
You’ll be amazed at what’s going on there. The parkade mural is well under way and it is truly spectacular. Commissioned from Kamloops artist Bill Frymire, it’s part of the Lansdowne Street do-over, and consists of metal tiles — 90,000 of them — assembled to depict the meeting of the waters.
It’s blue and green and yellow and bright and sparkly and the tired old parkade is on the way to becoming a stunning canvas. Every parkade should look as good.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I must say it certainly brightens up a very drab structure and hopefully will last a long time. Just a point trees sticking out the side of this structure, not sure of that one. Accenting an existing facility, I am OK with that.
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Yes, I agree, Pierre.
Pat Wallace described what people would see as “the wow factor”.
I wonder if she was indeed speaking about our property tax notice for this year.
Money better spent would have been on trees which are natural filters for carbon dioxide. Growing trees doesn’t cost nearly as much as buying electric vehicles.
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That experience of a slow drive-by (caused by the reconstruction procurement) was definitely ruined by the property tax assessment notice I just received which made me ponder about…well taxes and public art and other things. Personally a clean city decorated with beautifully maintained gardens and public spaces and bright coloured buildings as a matter of default is preferable. The “meetings of the waters” is actually totally lost on me, but thanks for describing it, I just don’t like abstract that much. I also don’t really like the installation at the roundabout and the constantly destroyed black accent fence…art is also in simplicity and practical use. Nowadays there is also the environmental footprint factor to consider which means restrain and frugality should be the mandate especially when it comes to public expenditure…which makes me think about the property assessment notice I just got in the mail…
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