Thursday, June 18, 2009

Day Three - I'm Not Half The Stack I Used To Be

As I arrived home this evening, I was both shocked and surprised to see the Smokestack is almost half gone. I am surprised at the tremendous progress EBI and Bigge Crane are making. After just three days, the stack is a shadow of its former self. I was shocked as it truly is disappearing. I can't see it from my front porch anymore. It is sad, which puzzles me, as I'm the one in charge of making sure we bring it down.

We are watching the site closely as more and more rubble piles up. We want to insure the security and safety of all who are nearby. We have security around when the workers are not so please be respectful.

EBI continues to get better at there job and refining their methods. Dust control continues to improve and Thieu new method of chewing grooves farther down has sped up progress. At this rate the Smokestack will be gone in a little more than a week. As it comes to an end, we will begin anew by honoring it with our memorial Smokestack ring. Stay tuned for an image of what it will look like in future posts.

Cowellian, I hope you don't mind my use of your picture. Check out his blog with great Smokestack stories and memories here.

Mark Weinmann, Cowell Smokestack Project Manager, CHOA

3 comments:

Cowellian said...

Help yourself, I put the pictures out there because I know that a lot of people have an intense interest in the smokestack.

I'm trying to get a shot from the same place every day and have them set up as a slide-show here: http://cowellhistoricalsociety.org/html/demolition.html

Mark Boucher said...

Mark,

First, thanks for all you're doing with the Smokestack. The communication/blog in impressive! It's nice to get you behind the scenes impressions.

I went by yesterday and today actually got to see the "muncher" in action. I never thought it would come down like that. Makes perfect sense though.

I noticed that lots of concrete chips have ended up in the grass. I suppose the contractor is suppose to clean all of that up at the end.

I had a thought.
What if we had/let a residents comb through the grass to find a pieces of the Smokestack. They could take a Sharpie and write their name on it. Kids could paint them, or whatever. They would put in a crate/bucket/barrel that would somehow be use in the concrete work for the monument. I'm not thinking exposed agregate concrete. It would help people have "closure" and be "a part" of the final monument, "chip in" on making it a real memorial. They'd have something to say when they think of or visit the site, "I picked up a piece and its in that sidewalk". No special ceremony would be needed. Just set a time and have some place for the chips to be placed and have the contractor use them.

Just a thought. Call me if you'd like to talk/pursue this.

OrdAvgGuy said...

Mark - Some good ideas. I'll talk to our committee. Another thought I had was to put a time capsule in the pedestal. Not sure what we can do at this late stage but we'll see what we can do.

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