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Drive across I-580 from Hopyard to Dougherty Road and Dublin Boulevard, and there it is: Dublin’s new gateway feature: “The Eternal Ribbon.”
Funded by federal transportation dollars, the Eternal Ribbon is a twisting stainless steel arch that spans 100 feet long and 22 feet high.
The sculptural arch is intended to give people the experience of passage. When viewed from above, it displays the symbol for infinity.
The work is part of a larger Corridor Enhancement project that will also include the installation of new gateway markers and monument and directional signs along Dublin Boulevard.
–Jeb Bing
–Jeb Bing
Funded by Federal Transportation dollars?????????
When viewed from above, it displays the symbol for infinity????????
I appreciate ‘art’ like everyone else, but using federal transportation dollars for this…..and then who will “view it from above”?
Bing- How much of our Transportation Dollars did this thing cost?
Sure seems like it could have been put to better use.
I actually thought that it was a piece of construction waste; didn’t realize it was supposed to be art. How does this relate to transportation?
Gotta love those incompetent politicians and the dumb decisions they make in spending our tax dollars
I can’t wait to hear how much was spent on this thing. And our politicians and public servants have trouble finding ways to cut spending?
What a waste of $$$. Why not fix the bumps in the roads of the valley before calling this piece of stuff art. OBAMA DOLLARS AT WORK!!!
… but a very simple Google search for “Dublin corridor enhancement project” turns up as the *very first* hit a document that describes this project and others that were brought forward to the Dublin City Council in 2005, to be funded by federal grant funds. Quote from the document: “In 2005, the City applied for and was granted approximately
$3.3 Million of Federal Transportation Enhancement Activities
funds through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to
implement enhancements recommended in the Plan including
median markers, wayfinding signs, city monument signs and
the gateway feature at the southeast corner of Dougherty Road
and Dublin Boulevard.”
Well, unless those very crafty liberal/socialist/marxist Democrats somehow twisted the arms and fooled those not-so-crafty Republicans in the White House to claim this as *their* idea when in fact it was those crafty liberal/socialist/marxist Democrats in stealth mode, I think we’ll just not be able to pin this particular one on OBAMA DOLLARS AT WORK!!!
Darn. Phooey. Back to the drawing board. Or the playpen.
I don’t care if it was Republicans or Democrats, we really need to cut federal spending on these stupid types of things. The road improvements, I can understand and are reasonable, but if Dublin wants a giant piece of art, Dublin should pay for it and if Pleasanton wants something they should extort it from developers.
I thought it was some kind of skateboard ramp gone wacko. If federal moneys were spent on it I think all of us got taken.. What is it suppose to represent?
It represents the never ending cycle of tax and spend. Our perhaps infinity, the politicians view of available tax dollars.
This is a disgusting joke of what our tax money should be going to, we should be marching on the city for pulling off a disgusting waste of funds like this. That money could have gone towards many GOOD causes especially since many of the roads in Dublin are heading towards worse for wear conditions.
@ Tango – All of us got taken is almost an understatement.
At “Resident”…simply genius. Wish I thought of that first.
Nice work!
If it is true that this money was requested and granted in 2005, then it was well before our current financial difficulties, and, yes, granted by the Republican administration.
It is routine for localities to request money for improvement projects, such as roads, and include “beautification” projects as part of the deal. There are a fair number of such projects all around the Tri-Valley. This one will just become symbolic because of its visibility. It is far beyond the scale of what would have been appropriate at that location and does seem to be a highly-visible use and/or abuse of Federal highway money.
On the other hand, this kind of “beautification” project, throughout the past eighty years or so, has resulted in many other valuable and significant public buildings and artworks, some of which have become landmarks in time. Will this one become a landmark in thirty years?
Since Dublin in Nov. 1993, thanks to the Lins pouring over $100,000 to influence the election, voted to double the size of Dublin, build over 13,000 dwelling units, to expand east Dublin from Tassajara Road to Fallon Road on Lin-owned land, any penny of transportation dollars given to Dublin, including the $3.3 million dollars of transportation funds, should be given to Pleasanton.
Look at the traffic congestion that has resulted. And the Lins want a similar supersized sprawl development in North Livermore north of I-580.
As we passed by it today, my husband and I were wondering what the scrap metal was doing there. Almost as ugly as the Castro Valley Canoe, that the County paid for and had to put into storage. What a WASTE!!!
… probably less expensive than the debacle of the rusting useless BART overpass sections gracing the side of the freeway for the last 2+ years.
Let’see … cut twice, measure once. No wait!
Good Grief, I thought that was a pile of scrap! That thing is an outrage! and to think our dollars went for that rather than fixing the bumpy, potholed, poor drainage roads!!!! WOW !!!!
One of my kids thought it was a new, unfinished signage for Dublin Honda.
I wish they used the money for beautiful art such as the thought and feeling-provoking statues on Main Street Pleasanton.