The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20091118181227/http://www2.dailyprogress.com:80/cdp/news/local/local_govtpolitics/article/residents_chime_in_on_city_clock_designs/48880

Residents chime in on city clock designs

Residents chime in on city clock designs

ASHLEY TWIGGS — SPECIAL TO THE DAILY PROGRESS

Mary Joy Scala (left), a Charlottesville planner, and Pamela Tetro, a city resident, look at Sister Cities Clock Design Competition entries at CitySpace on the Downtown Mall.

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With a flick of the wrist, folks wandering on the Downtown Mall check the time on their watches or cell phones.

That might not be the case forever. Designs for a clock structure incorporating three of Charlottesville’s sister cities were displayed Saturday at CitySpace, where area residents and passersby voted for their favorite timepiece. A panel of judges previously reviewed the 10 entries, noting three as the best of the bunch.

The city put out a call in August for people to submit concepts for the 2009 Sister Cities Clock Design Competition. The designs are supposed to provide an easy way for residents to check the time while acknowledging Charlottesville’s sister cities — Besancon, France; Pleven, Bulgaria; and Poggio a Caiano, Italy.

The City Council voted to add Winneba, Ghana, to Charlottesville’s sister cities earlier this month. The designs, which were due Oct. 23, did not include the new addition.

The designs run the gamut from a musical spectacle to a minimalist sundial to a monolithic, bricked column. Mary Joy Scala, the city’s preservation and design planner, said most designers suggested their clock be put in front of City Hall.

City resident Pat Cochran said she liked the earthy-red metal clock featuring four LCD screens with real-time footage of Charlottesville’s sister cities. She said the first-place Meridian Clock, an angular design by local resident Edward P. Smith that would show the month and season by the shadows it cases, is lacking a worldview.

“I do think it’s interesting, but it doesn’t speak sister city to me,” Cochran said.

Gordon Matthew, another city resident, said he liked the idea of putting the clock near the First Amendment wall.

“I think the east mall could use more attention,” Matthew said.

Charlottesville resident Rick Hazard admired a musical clock with columns that would light up and play tunes composed by artists from each sister city. He said the chosen clock would be an important centerpiece on the Downtown Mall.

“This will become a marker where people meet,” Hazard said.

The City Council is expected to make a final decision about the clock during one of its December meetings. Scala said the city may choose one of the designs, but they are merely suggestions.

Paul Tassell of The Gaines Group LLC designed the second-place clock, which is a tall, brick column topped by a metal clock that would be placed near the Paramount Theater. Michael Stoneking, a Charlottesville resident, won third place with a squat clock featuring a ground map pointing out the sister cities.

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