Last night, around 9.45pm, one of the rubber retaining dams that contains Tempe Town Lake catastrophically failed emptying the lake into the downstream Salt River. The lake, which opened in 1999, was created by damming up a two-mile stretch of the Salt River and filling it up with water.
Listen to the press conference held this morning:
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Nick Bastian, the owner of the ever-popular RailLife.com, has some interesting pictures from today’s press conference that feature the now-drained Tempe Town Lake.
It’ll be interesting to see how the recovery takes place. We shall see!
Organist and composer Paul Manz died Wednesday. As a musician who’s spent a little time behind the organ, I had the great privilege to play some of Mr. Manz’s works.
Paul Manz was a church organist who took the liberty of being creative at the keyboard. He liked to introduce hymns that the congregation at Minneapolis’ Mount Olive Lutheran Church would sing with improvisations. Church members loved them, and word about his compositions eventually led to Manz playing at hymn festivals nationwide.
For 37 years, he led music at Mount Olive at 3045 Chicago Av. S., where his music will be played and prayer services will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to mourn and honor him. He died Wednesday in St. Paul following a long illness. He was 90. [source]
Now, he’s with the company of Bach, Handel, Buxtehude, Mozart, and the entire company of saints. He will be missed but his music lives on.
Friend and colleague Kirsten Martin is embarking on a 30-day blog post series that chronicles a daily adventure in her life.
In her words:
I heard my friends recently talking about this project that they were doing where they were supposed to take a picture a day for 30 days and post it with a caption to share with their friends. I’ve decided to take on this project and start my own 30 day adventure.
Good luck, Kirsten, and we look forward to a fantastic series!
We’re just one day out from the opening of the new Downtown Phoenix Civic Space park. Over the weekend, Janet Echelman’s “Her Secret is Patience” was installed. Our friends from the City of Phoenix took this photo of lighting tests on the Echelman artwork that is too good not to share:
Earlier today, Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the forty-fourth President of the United States. In the First Amendment Forum of the Cronkite School building, students from across the campus gathered to take in history.
I know you’re all sad that this is the last weekend in Phoenix without METRO Light Rail. I am, too. [end sarcasm]
The thing that is extremely hard to believe is that it seems like yesterday when Central Avenue was still 3 lanes with the fancy bricks running down the center. Or when construction started in front of my house. Or even when we hit the 100-days-to-go plateau. But it’s here, and the grand opening celebrations are in ONE WEEK!
I’m probably going to be helping out that day at the Heard Museum (Encanto/Central Ave station) promoting the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association. I work with them as a community engagement partner for businesses, residents, and METRO Light Rail. So, if you’re going to be riding the rails that day (so to speak), stop by and say hello. (I’m the tall one.)
As of tonight, we’re 64 days out to METRO’s grand opening festivals and things down here are getting exciting. Tonight’s the first night where my station, Central/Encanto, has been lit up.
