Benches should be benched

Whoever sold those painted metal benches to the city of Iowa City ought to be sued.  Paint is peeling from each of them, giving the appearance of palomino — black and silver at best and vomit at most. These benches are not that old, and at the rate the paint is flaking off, they will have to be repainted before summer ends, so we can look forward to wet-paint signs covering the city.

Of course, the cost of hiring painters will have to come out of the expected $50 million tax shortfall the city will have in the very near future.

A friend of mine attended a meeting about Ped Mall improvements. One of the ideas was to do away with the flat wooden benches and replace them with partitioned ones and plastic chairs that have to be brought in nightly, so that the homeless would not sleep in the Ped Mall.  Heartless/stupid, because if a person needs sleep, a partition or an uncomfortable plastic chair is no obstacle.

Furthermore, the wooden benches (park benches) we have in Iowa City have withstood tornadoes, snow, rain, and Bobcat assaults by careless drivers removing snow.  The benches are warm to the behind in winter and cool in summer.  The concrete supports of the benches never need painting and are virtually indestructible and the wooden surface allows Iowa City artist to express their talent.

We have to make economical long-range changes in how money is spent by the city, and buying shoddy products is out.

Mary Gravitt