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What have they done to the lovely, mosque-like blue water tower? It has awfully threatening-looking spikes all over it. Fully functional, I am sure, but eerie all the same. I painted that once years ago, and always found it most beautiful late in the afternoon/early evening when it almost mached the sky.

Meaning you painted it on canvas or (gulp) you scaled to the top, Jim?

The "spikes" are to support curtains (sandblasting) for repainting.

Thanks for the information, Allan. I was going to call you. I thought the city might be dressing up the tank with a new outer skin, as UNCG did.

Good to hear it's temporary...though I think I will go paint it (on canvas...slate tile, actually) again, just for contrast. Do tell me they won't change the color...it rhymes so beautifully with the late evening sky (and sometimes with the morning haze).

Well, I don't have the specs handy but I believe the color is more of a beige (like Muirs Chapel or Lee's Chapel tanks)as opposed to what used to be water and sewer standard "sea foam green". Bennett College is paying to place thier logo on the tank similar to the same deal we did with UNCG on the Aycock tank and Guilford College did on the Muirs Chapel tank. Thankfully, NCA&T declined so we didn't have either a battle or need to do two logos on one tank.

And just for the record, the replacement of the UNCG tank was all done with water and sewer funds, UNCG just paid for the logo. Many people think the tank just serves them because of the longstanding logo, but it is part of the overall water transmission/storage grid of the City. The original tank was replaced because we could use more elevated storage in the area (better fire protection) and the cost to sandblast and repaint the circa 1930 tower, complete with lead paint, was not a good deal. It was picturesque, but, not all that functional and expensive to maintain.

Thanks for the information, Mr. Williams.

You know, if all civil servants were this responsive to the public, people would have a lot more faith in local government.

It's also nice to see blogs being used this way, (you know, actually communicating useful local information) rather than name-calling and finger-pointing.

Well said, JS.
I appreciate the helpful update as well, Allan (although I wonder if anyone's pointed out to you that you misspell your first name).

Yes, thank you, Mr. Williams. I have nothing against either Bennett or my grad alma mater, UNCG, but the logos pale by comparison to the sea foam, as corny as that sounds. And beige is hardly inspiring. Ah, well, progress!

Thanks for the compliment on the responsiveness. We try, and while I do check some of the local blogs as much for curiousity, I do see issues sometimes in which I have some part and could make (what I think!) might be an informative or constructive comment. However, I see so much commentary that is coarse, vicious, crude, or deliberately using "facts" in misleading ways, that I just don't wish to expose myself to having to respond to it. I know one does not necessarily have to respond to all comments, but I'm the type that when folks start throwing grenades at me it takes a lot of restraint. The Water Resources Department is responsible for getting about 35 million gallons a day of high quality water to 96,000 customers, and then cleaning it up after they use it to standards that exceed in some cases drinking water standards. We also do drainage and stream quality. It takes a lot of work, much of it is rather unpleasant (especially on the sewer side). So, when one looks on blogs and sees oft repeated negative attitudes about city employees, some like me generally will choose to avoid getting into these frays as it just diverts you from what the mission is. Anyway, I'll try to watch and respond to anything specific to our area.

Thanks, Allan.
As you can see, the blogosphere isn't Dodge City all of the time ... just most of the time.

My mother said years ago, that water tower in Southside use to be silver. When I was a little boy the tower was a darker and uglier green. That was when Southside was totally different from today when it had delapitated homes. multi-tenant aparment homes and winos walking the streets.