Downtown Fountains

[Houston19514]

.  Just can't admit to the fact that the vast majority of downtown fountains are indeed working, can you?  Even had to go outside of downtown to find yourself another non-working foiuntain, which judging by the fencing around it is probably being worked on.  I saw it working just a couple weeks ago.

As to the Houston Center fountain, I doubt it was ever their intention to have it running 24/7. It does work;  I've recently seen it running, as you can see in my posted picture above.

[editor]

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

 Even had to go outside of downtown to find yourself another non-working foiuntain,

Nope.  I was walking to Walgreens today and just happened to notice it.  Sorry to deflate any conspiracy theory you might be forming.

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

As to the Houston Center fountain, I doubt it was ever their intention to have it running 24/7.

If it's not running, it's not working.  A car that also doesn't start 24/7 can also be described as not working.

That Houston Center photo was taken at 9:00am on a weekday.  I don't consider a water feature that runs from 11:54am to 11:57am every other Thursday to be a fountain.

 

Also walking around today:

Dead fountain.

 

Partially working fountain, but good to see the spigot working for the first time in years. I guess that's progress.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Amazingly working fountain.  This has been dead for years, then was working on-and-off.  This is twice in a row that I've walked by and it's working, so hopefully this one can be considered a success.

 

Dead fountain replaced with a bowl of dirt.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain replaced by a bowl of flowers.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain.

 

Dead fountain replaced by a bowl of weeds.

 

It's a shame about those fountains that have been replaced by bowls.  Some of them used to be baseballs with water flowing out from under them.  They were made to look like giant baseballs crashed to earth.  They were supposed to line the street all the way down to the baseball stadium.

 

While looking for an old photo of the baseball fountains, I came across this picture.  I'd forgotten there used to be a fountain in front of Chase Tower:

 

I think the El Paso Energy fountains are gone, too.  But I'm happy to be corrected about that:

 

I also forgot that there was a fountain on Milam between Rusk and Capitol:

 

I haven't been over by the bayou in a while.  Does this one still flow? 

 

For some reason when I put in "fountain," my computer sent this back.  It must be psychic, because this has a fountain today (working!) that wasn't there when I took this picture:

 

The computer search for "fountain" also popped up lots of pictures I took of Sesquicentennial Park, but I'm not going to post those here.  That would only embarrass anyone who believes that downtown Houston doesn't have a problem with its fountains.

 

 

 

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, editor said:

Nope.  I was walking to Walgreens today and just happened to notice it.  Sorry to deflate any conspiracy theory you might be forming.  . No conspiracy theory.  You're only one person.

If it's not running, it's not working.  A car that also doesn't start 24/7 can also be described as not working. That's bizarre and illogical reasoning.  I do not keep my car running 24/7.  but I wouldn't tell anyone my car is not working.  My home A/C doesn't run 24/7, but it is working just fine.

That Houston Center photo was taken at 9:00am on a weekday.  I don't consider a water feature that runs from 11:54am to 11:57am every other Thursday to be a fountain.  Funny.  Of course you are making that up entirely.  I don't know or pretend to know their schedule or the logic behind it.  But it clearly does work. See my photo upstream taken very recently. If it's schedule bothers you so much, get in touch with the building management.

 

Also walking around today:

Dead fountain.  Yep, one of troubled Cotswold fountains included on my list (the Cotswold fountains are being addressed. Even you have noticed that some of them have been returned to operational status.)

 

 

Partially working fountain, but good to see the spigot working for the first time in years. I guess that's progress. Yes, as I reported earlier, downtown organizations have been addressing the Cotswold fountains.  This one appears to be fully functional.  Not sure what else you expect it to do.

 

Dead fountain.  Yes, another Cotswold noted in my list.

 

Amazingly working fountain.  This has been dead for years, then was working on-and-off.  This is twice in a row that I've walked by and it's working, so hopefully this one can be considered a success.  Yes, another Cotswold that has been restored to operation.

 

Dead fountain replaced with a bowl of dirt. Not sure where this is or whether it was ever a fountain or intended to be one.

 

Dead fountain.  Yep, another Cotswold noted on my list.

 

Dead fountain.  This was never a fountain.

 

Dead fountain. This was never a fountain.

 

Dead fountain.  This was never a fountain.

 

Dead fountain replaced by a bowl of flowers.  I doubt this was ever a fountain. (But even if it was, it certainly isn't one now.  Are we really going kvetch complain that some times, fountains are removed;  even if that's your latest issue, that's different from non-working fountains.

 

Dead fountain.  Yep. Another Cotswold.  Included in my list.

 

Dead fountain.  Not a dead fountain.  Never was a fountain.  The pillars with plantings on top were not fountains.

 

Dead fountain.  Again.  Never was a fountain.

 

Dead fountain replaced by a bowl of weeds.  Again, pretty sure this was never a fountain.

 

It's a shame about those fountains that have been replaced by bowls.  Some of them used to be baseballs with water flowing out from under them.  They were made to look like giant baseballs crashed to earth.  They were supposed to line the street all the way down to the baseball stadium.  No.  That is not true. There was (and is) one fountain that is a baseball crashed to earth.  It is over near MMP and is working.  There were never multiple baseball fountains.

 

While looking for an old photo of the baseball fountains, I came across this picture.  I'd forgotten there used to be a fountain in front of Chase Tower:  Yeah.  It was taken out when they totally redid the plaza.

 

I think the El Paso Energy fountains are gone, too.  But I'm happy to be corrected about that:  Yep they were removed when the building was completely re-done a few years back (it's now Kinder-Morgan).  Things change.  Some old fountains are removed and we get some new ones.

 

I also forgot that there was a fountain on Milam between Rusk and Capitol:  Yep.  I forget exactly where that was.  I believe it was a little park created by Chase.  I think the property has been built on. 

 

I haven't been over by the bayou in a while.  Does this one still flow? No. That is Sesquicentennial Park.  Pretty sure it was badly damage in Harvey.  I have not been able to find any information on plans to repair it.

 

For some reason when I put in "fountain," my computer sent this back.  It must be psychic, because this has a fountain today (working!) that wasn't there when I took this picture:  There are four of these benches in Market Square Park, one on each side.  Two of them have fountain/water tables with them.  This picture is of the bench on the east side of the park (Travis Street).  There is no fountain there.  The benches on the north (Congress Street) and south (Preston Street) sides of the park have the fountains/water tables.

 

The computer search for "fountain" also popped up lots of pictures I took of Sesquicentennial Park, but I'm not going to post those here.  That would only embarrass anyone who believes that downtown Houston doesn't have a problem with its fountains.  You already posted the picture of Sesquicentennial Park.  The photo immediately prior to the Market Square bench.

1 hour ago, editor said:

 

That was entertaining, but i've already provided a pretty complete list of working and non-working fountains in downtown Houston.  You could have just said something like, You're right Houston 19514, I'd overlooked a lot of fountains.  The vast majority do indeed work. 

I do now see the source of part of you're confusion.  You are including on your "list" of non-working fountains at least eight items that are not fountains and never were (and also now seem to want to include fountains that have completely removed and no longer exist.) Even if we follow that illogical standard you are well short of "the vast majority not working" as you have claimed.

My other comments are inserted into the quoted post in red.

Not sure what point you were even trying to make here.  Yes, some fountains have been removed over the years (show me thriving changing city where that hasn't happened) and I've already acknowledged that there are a few fountains in downtown that are not working (some of which are being worked on.)  I've also shown you a list of 35 working fountains against 7 nonworking. 

FACT:  the vast majority of downtown's fountains are working.

And soon, we'll have another beautiful one in Lynn Wyatt Square.

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Houston19514

[hbg.50]

Isn’t this The Wortham fountain?

 

I’m actually impressed how many beautiful fountains downtown Houston has!

Every time I go to the Houston Botanic Garden (for which I pay to be a member) their main fountain is ALWAYS not working!  Now that is something to complain about!

[ChannelTwoNews]

16 hours ago, editor said:

I also forgot that there was a fountain on Milam between Rusk and Capitol:

Yep. Hasn't been there since at least 2012 or 2013. They cleared the pocket park as the first part of construction for the Capitol/Bank of America Tower.

I only mention this one since I recall thinking that park was about the best that anyone would be able to do with the block and that the old Houston Club buildings would eventually get rehabbed as has been taking place with more properties recently. Liked the mural on the wall facing toward Capitol. Just couldn't envision another tower there for some reason. 

[j_cuevas713]

20 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

.  Just can't admit to the fact that the vast majority of downtown fountains are indeed working, can you?  Even had to go outside of downtown to find yourself another non-working foiuntain, which judging by the fencing around it is probably being worked on.  I saw it working just a couple weeks ago.

As to the Houston Center fountain, I doubt it was ever their intention to have it running 24/7. It does work;  I've recently seen it running, as you can see in my posted picture above.

I just walked past a bunch of fountains this weekend that weren't on. Tranquility, Sesquicentennial, and the majority of The Cotswold fountains were all off. 

[Houston19514]

16 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I just walked past a bunch of fountains this weekend that weren't on. Tranquility, Sesquicentennial, and the majority of The Cotswold fountains were all off. 

Yep.  Tranquility and Sesquicentennial have been off for quite some time and are #1 and #2 in my list of non-working fountains.  By my count, a slight majority of Cotswold fountains are actually working.  (6 of 11).   Now, if one counts items that are not, and were never intended to be, fountains (as our Editor does) then the count comes out differently.  ;-)

 

14 hours ago, steve1363 said:

Isn’t this The Wortham fountain?

 

I’m actually impressed how many beautiful fountains downtown Houston has!

Every time I go to the Houston Botanic Garden (for which I pay to be a member) their main fountain is ALWAYS not working!  Now that is something to complain about!

I don't know if the fountain has it's own name. But it's in Sesquicentennial Park (next door to the Wortham Center.)

Edited June 5, 2023 by Houston19514

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I just walked past a bunch of fountains this weekend that weren't on. Tranquility, Sesquicentennial, and the majority of The Cotswold fountains were all off. 

Revised count  Of the 12 existing Cotswold fountains, 6 are working.  6 are currently not working.  I'll try to go by some of these on my walk to update.

Cotswold #1, Preston @ Smith.  Was removed, presumably when the Ballet's Center for Dance was built.

Cotswold #2, Preston @ Louisiana.  Not Working.

Cotswold #3,  Preston @ Market Square.  Working.

Cotswold #4, Preston @ Main.  Not working.

Cotswold #5, Preston @ Main.  Not working.

Cotswold #6, 1100 block of Preston.  Working

Cotswold #7, Preston @ Caroline.  Not Working.

Cotswold #8, Preston @ Crawford.  Working.

Cotswold #9, Prairie @ Travis.  Working.  (And has been working regularly for quite some time, even when Editor laughably told us it was in disrepair because the wall was "leaking". The wall is a weeping wall; that's part of the design.)

Cotswold #10, Prairie @ Travis.  Working.

Cotswold #11, Congress @ Main.   Not Working, last I checked.

Cotswold #12, Congress @ Main.  Not working, last I checked.

Sorry, can't find a picture.

Cotswold #13, Congress @ Market Square.  Working.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Houston19514

[Houston19514]

I guess it would be logical to draw the conclusion that the vast majority of our downtown fountains are not working, if you re-define fountain to be any inanimate object one chooses.

To help everyone keep track, the following pictures are of elements of the Cotswold project that are not fountains, never were fountains and were never intended to be fountains:

 

 

f

Edited June 5, 2023 by Houston19514

[j_cuevas713]

I wish all of them were working. Some of the main ones are eyesores at the moment but are actually really beautiful when running. 

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, j_cuevas713 said:

I wish all of them were working. Some of the main ones are eyesores at the moment but are actually really beautiful when running. 

As do I and I'm sure the downtown organizations, which are indeed working on them.  My understanding is that some of them were simply turned off because the homeless were bathing in them/and using them as urinals (or worse).  Just turning of the fountains is not really a good answer to that issue, but certainly understandable.

[Houston19514]

Quick update.  The Downtown Management District received an update on the Cotswold Fountain repairs at their recent meeting.  When the minutes come out we should be able to see what they learned.  Stay tuned.  (Unless you are one who prefers to stick with the belief that Houston's standard MO is to let everything fall into disrepair and never do anything about it.) 

[editor]

On 6/5/2023 at 1:09 PM, Houston19514 said:

My understanding is that some of them were simply turned off because the homeless were bathing in them/and using them as urinals (or worse).

Oh, how awful — human beings who want to be clean!  We should definitely make their hygiene worse.  That will totally solve homelessness! 

You know the homeless sleep in the streets, don't you?  By that logic, we should get rid of all the streets.  And I saw a homeless guy in the park the other day.  We should shut down all of the parks! 

The solution to vagrants bathing in the fountains isn't to remove the fountains.  It's to give people a better place to bathe.

Municipal bathing facilities have been around for as long as there has been plumbing. 

[Ross]

21 minutes ago, editor said:

Oh, how awful — human beings who want to be clean!  We should definitely make their hygiene worse.  That will totally solve homelessness! 

You know the homeless sleep in the streets, don't you?  By that logic, we should get rid of all the streets.  And I saw a homeless guy in the park the other day.  We should shut down all of the parks! 

The solution to vagrants bathing in the fountains isn't to remove the fountains.  It's to give people a better place to bathe.

Municipal bathing facilities have been around for as long as there has been plumbing. 

Sarcasm warning

But, but, but, that would be socialism and we can't have that at all, unless it's socialism to benefit the wealthy, who deserve that assistance! The poor need to try harder! The homeless need to get a job and get a home!

End of sarcasm

[bobruss]

Perhaps public bathrooms and a bathing facility would be a humane and forward thinking solution. It wouldn't have to be on Main street but somewhere that was fairly accessible and patrolled.

[editor]

On 6/9/2023 at 11:56 AM, bobruss said:

Perhaps public bathrooms and a bathing facility would be a humane and forward thinking solution. It wouldn't have to be on Main street but somewhere that was fairly accessible and patrolled.

Or Houston could do what other cities do: Make it easy for charities to help the homeless with their hygiene.

In some places I've lived, if a church provides bathing facilities for the homeless, it stops getting a water bill.  Easy peasy. 

[quietstorm]

17 hours ago, editor said:

Or Houston could do what other cities do: Make it easy for charities to help the homeless with their hygiene.

In some places I've lived, if a church provides bathing facilities for the homeless, it stops getting a water bill.  Easy peasy. 

The Beacon at the Episcopal Diocese downtown provides hot showers daily. If a person is mentally they may not know or have the capacity to locate the center; but many homeless residents shower there each day. 

[Houston19514]

6 hours ago, quietstorm said:

The Beacon at the Episcopal Diocese downtown provides hot showers daily. If a person is mentally they may not know or have the capacity to locate the center; but many homeless residents shower there each day. 

Editor's eagerness to disparage Houston won out over the facts again.

[editor]

19 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Editor's eagerness to disparage Houston won out over the facts again.

Grumpy old men gotta grump. 

[editor]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:12 AM, quietstorm said:

The Beacon at the Episcopal Diocese downtown provides hot showers daily. If a person is mentally they may not know or have the capacity to locate the center; but many homeless residents shower there each day. 

Yeah, that's always the hard thing with mentally ill homeless people.  It's hard to stay on your meds when you don't have a safe place to keep them, or a regular life schedule/alarm clock of some sort to keep you on track.  And there's a certain level of mental illness where you're no longer mentally capable of taking your meds reliably.  In some cases, you only need to miss one dose and you're done for.  Just this morning, I saw a middle-aged woman standing in the middle of Fannin Street shouting at imaginary people.  As noted before, downtown's vagrancy problem doesn't seem to be about homelessness so much as it is about drugs and mental illness.

In decades past, people who couldn't stay on their meds would have been brought to state-run places to help them get back on track.  I don't know what the situation is in Texas, but in Illinois, funds for mental illness were gutted by a series of governors of both parties in order to balance the budget. Then they congratulate themselves in front of the TV cameras while services for poor and desperate people get worse.

I've seen a nice lady in Midtown who sits down with homeless people on the street and helps them with their medications and other things.  She's of sounder constitution than I.  I think I'd give up.  She really is amazing.  Stunningly beautiful, and kind as the day is long.  She could be a beauty queen or a runway model in Paris or any number of other things, but she seems to spend her free time sitting on the sidewalk with Houston's least fortunate, charging their phones and doing more than her share to make other human beings feel human. 

[staresatmaps]

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

[editor]

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood … Share the load.

As luck would have it, this is my neighborhood!  And I would have no objection to a public hygiene facility replacing any of the surface parking lots.

That's far closer to the "highest and best" use for the space than another stretch of asphalt.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods

[Citation needed]

[Houston19514]

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

 

1 hour ago, editor said:

As luck would have it, this is my neighborhood!  And I would have no objection to a public hygiene facility replacing any of the surface parking lots.

And, as has been previously noted, such a place already exists downtown (in Editor's neighborhood) at The Beacon.

On 6/19/2023 at 11:38 PM, staresatmaps said:

If you want these facilities, you should encourage them in your own neighborhood. Concentrating homeless services has been shown to destroy neighborhoods. Share the load.

 

1 hour ago, editor said:

[Citation needed]

While perhaps not conclusive, one can see pretty strong evidence if one looks around The Beacon.

[Houston19514]

Another morning walk, another amendment:

The Cotswold fountains at Congress and Main are now both working.  Also, the fountain that was once in the entry plaza of the Humble Oil Building hotels, seems to have been removed some time ago.   So the count stands at 36 downtown fountains working.   6 not working.   Of the 12 existing Cotswold fountains, 8 are working, 4 not working. 

WORKING:

1. Market Square 1 (as you mentioned)
2. Market Square (Cotswold #12)
3. Market Square (Cotswold #3)
4. Smith (as you mentioned)
5. Sam Houston Park Scanlan fountain
6. Sam Houston Park Neuhaus fountain (I presume one of these is what you were referencing by "Heritage Park")
7. Houston Center
8. Discovery Green Misttree
9. Discovery Green splash pad
10. Hermann Square
11. Main Street Square 1
12. Main Street Square 2
13. Downtown Aquarium water table
14. Downtown Aquarium waterwall
15. Downtown Aquarium marlin fountain
16. Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza
17. 1100 Louisiana
18. Root Memorial Square
19. Christ Church Cathedral
20. Jones Hall
21. Hess Tower
22. Courthouse Square - Family Law Center
23. Green Street 1
24. Green Street 2
25. Green Street 3
26. Avenida Houston
27. Catalyst
28. Harmonica Man Park - Brazos and Pease
29. George Bush Monument
30. POST roof park
31. Cotswold #10 - Prairie @ Travis
32. Cotswold #8 - Preston @ Crawford
33. Cotswold #6 - 1100 block of Preston (between Fannin & San Jacinto)
34. Cotswold #9 - Prairie @ Travis
35. Cotswold #11 - Congress @ Main
36. Cotswold #12 - Congress @ Main

 

NOT WORKING:

1. Sesquicentennial Park
2. Tranquility Park
3. Cotswold #2
4. Cotswold # 4 (Preston @ Main)
5. Cotswold #5 (Preston @ Main)
6. Cotswold #7  (Preston @ Caroline)

 

Edited June 23, 2023 by Houston19514

[BEES?!]

Probably safe to assume the ones at Tranquillity aren’t gonna come back online…:(

Dang shame, but I know there are supposed to be some structural issues  (with the garage underneath iirc) and they want to do an overhaul of the whole park anyway.

I love Tranquillity and think it’s a gorgeous work of art, but I understand there are major issues there…too bad. 

[editor]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:15 PM, BEES?! said:

I love Tranquillity and think it’s a gorgeous work of art, but I understand there are major issues there…too bad. 

It's been six years.  I'm no longer buying the blame Harvey excuse. 

[Houston19514]

16 hours ago, editor said:

It's been six years.  I'm no longer buying the blame Harvey excuse. 

I don't recall anyone  blaming Harvey with regard to the Tranquility Park fountains.

[BEES?!]

I think I posted an article about it in another topic (somewhere...?), but I think that it's a structural problem with the way the park was built on top of the underlying garage, and there's not much they can do short of a full renovation to fix the underlying issues. I wanna say that they found there was water leaking in from the fountains above and so they turned it off altogether. I know the big facelift of Tranquillity is included in the Theater District Master Plan, but I dunno when they're aiming to do it. Frankly I wasn't wild about their initial proposals for what they want to do with it, but I'm sure they're refining it and will find something that's modern while still paying homage to the original park (and why it was erected.)

[Brooklyn173]

I'm not sure of the date of this link, but some background info on Tranquillity Park and a study underway.

https://wos-la.com/tranquillity-park/

"... Striking fountain stacks have become one of the well-known visual images of Houston, however complex structural, waterproofing and fountain mechanical issues pose challenges below the surface. The City of Houston recently retained White Oak Studio to lead a design team to assess conditions of the park and make master plan..."

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, Brooklyn173 said:

I'm not sure of the date of this link, but some background info on Tranquillity Park and a study underway.

https://wos-la.com/tranquillity-park/

"... Striking fountain stacks have become one of the well-known visual images of Houston, however complex structural, waterproofing and fountain mechanical issues pose challenges below the surface. The City of Houston recently retained White Oak Studio to lead a design team to assess conditions of the park and make master plan..."

That's probably quite old.  White Oak did the 2012 Master Plan for Tranquillity Park, which, as I understand it, was incorporated into the Theater District Master Plan.  FWIW, the 2012 Master Plan retains the fountain stacks.  But that may have been before the apparent (rumored?) structural issues.