Thursday, May 21, 2009

lion around, flying around...

Scott Avenue in downtown Tucson has recently been redone as part of a streetscape project which narrowed the roadway, expanded the pedestrian sidewalks, improved street lighting, and put in new landscaping. As often occurs with vegetation / landscape changes, the variety of species visiting the new habitat changes. This is the first time I can recall seeing a griffin downtown, let alone a 12 foot tall one!

I think they did a really nice job with the streetscape here. The griffin was made by local artist Joe O'Connell. Its nice to see continued positive changes occurring in downtown Tucson.

6 comments:

  1. I haven't been to Tucson in years but I'm going to come down and check out all the fabulous stuff there that I've seen on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so glad that you got to go and take pictures! I didn't realize they were so far along. I had the fortunate opportunity to work on this project over the summer at the landscape architecture firm in Phoenix that was co-designer. The project manager was so great and very conscientious about preserving the "quirkiness" of Tucson. Good things are going to happen in this town so long as we can regain our financial bearings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Catalyst -- lots of cool stuff spread out all over Tucson -- some of it can be hard to find due to our urban sprawl. If there is anything in particular you want to locate, let me know and I can get you directions so you are sure to find it.

    Kim -- hey cool, you should go check out their (your) work. They reopened Scott Ave Wednesday night with a dedication ceremony. When I stopped by on Thursday it looked like they were just finishing up a little electrical work, but the rest of it appears to be complete, plants planted, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ha! when I read the title and then saw the picture, I immediately said, "GRIFFIN!" and then thought, "hey,if Warren is a true geek like me, he would know that..." and you did, kudos...

    hope it's not too hot down your way-beautiful up here. This southern girl loves this heat-esp after our last winter!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! A griffin. Big. And it's R.E.D. I want it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. tree, grannyj -- yes, one big griffin indeed! I'm looking forward to seeing it at night sometime - it has two 10 watt LED lights (bright for LED) that are supposed to uplight the wings at night when the street lights come on.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are always appreciated, they let me know if anyone is actually reading my blog too!