I strongly disagree with the impending demolishing of the iconic Watkinsville Water Tower
I know the Watkinsville Water Tower near where the "Big Spring" of what was one called Big Springs, Georgia serves no functional purpose anymore. I know it is a hazard. I know it is rusty and old and past its usefulness for the most part. I see a purpose beyond the aesthetic and instead as a possible financial benefit. I know there is a way to keep it and make money for our municipality. I wonder who is doing the seemingly shoddy job of removing it (or at least preparing to raze it) and who stands to make money off that?
If it is only because a group of kids have been crawling up it, then build a fence around it. I would think the City of Watkinsville would benefit and making monthly lease fees if they would instead do what about 90% of these abandoned water towers do and that is become a cellular telephone tower transmitter instead. There are large pockets of the area that would benefit from the added coverage, with the obvious assistance at the bridge on Whitehall/Simonton Bridge Road, Butler's Crossing around Publix, and the Oconee Veterans Park. My smart phone is billed to keep working around these dead zones outside of coverage, but I think it would also be beneficial to the large section of the county south of Colham Ferry Road Primary School and down to Farmington. The topography is favorable for such improvements of cell phone coverage. I am sure the auction and attraction of usage would have competing interests battling for larger and longer leases to the benefit of the city coffers. A group of students also used the iconography of the water tower as part of their presentation of how Watkinsville can better market itself in the near future.
I do not know when the plans for permanently removing this were put in place, but I would hope the administration of Charles Ivie would show the leadership to keep the water tower in place. I do not think that will happen, especially with Ivie running for a second term and no mention of it other than the plans to tear it down. Keep Watkinsville wonderful with a water tower on our horizon and a better cell phone coverage for the outlaying areas sounds like a win-win situation to me. It can serve a better future for us all.
If it is only because a group of kids have been crawling up it, then build a fence around it. I would think the City of Watkinsville would benefit and making monthly lease fees if they would instead do what about 90% of these abandoned water towers do and that is become a cellular telephone tower transmitter instead. There are large pockets of the area that would benefit from the added coverage, with the obvious assistance at the bridge on Whitehall/Simonton Bridge Road, Butler's Crossing around Publix, and the Oconee Veterans Park. My smart phone is billed to keep working around these dead zones outside of coverage, but I think it would also be beneficial to the large section of the county south of Colham Ferry Road Primary School and down to Farmington. The topography is favorable for such improvements of cell phone coverage. I am sure the auction and attraction of usage would have competing interests battling for larger and longer leases to the benefit of the city coffers. A group of students also used the iconography of the water tower as part of their presentation of how Watkinsville can better market itself in the near future.
I do not know when the plans for permanently removing this were put in place, but I would hope the administration of Charles Ivie would show the leadership to keep the water tower in place. I do not think that will happen, especially with Ivie running for a second term and no mention of it other than the plans to tear it down. Keep Watkinsville wonderful with a water tower on our horizon and a better cell phone coverage for the outlaying areas sounds like a win-win situation to me. It can serve a better future for us all.
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