Main Heap, Hendersonville continues to make news. The mountain fountain is installed, and it is controversial. That, according to modern views of public art, is good. Councilman Steve Caraker doesn’t particularly dig the scene, but he remarked:

“I’m done spending money on Main Street,” . . . If others want to change it, he added, they should raise money to pay for it.

To that, local artist Barbara Glassman said, OK. She wants to “repurpose” the fountain, moving it to the south end of town. She has begun a facebook campaign with the name, “Extract the TOOTH.” If Glassman succeeds, the fountain will be moved, and the sidewalk can be torn up to place bricks or plaques honoring donors.

As it turns out, I’m not the only person annoyed by Main Street Hendersonville’s New Urbanist vision. It is well ahead of its time, encouraging multimodal transportation such as Sherman tanks and moon rovers to get from block to block. Whereas the old downtown could have been Main Street, Anywhere, USA; Hendersonville has developed a unique, eat-my-dust brand, reflected in its dirt heaps and traffic redirects. A new motto might be, “You can’t get there from here.”

Here’s what some common taters are saying:

I don’t like the fountain but I also don’t like the fact that main street is continually being worked on. Four way stops are put in, then taken out. Traffic signals, walk ways, flowers—everything is being reworked every few years. Just leave poor old main street alone for awhile and let the businesses operate without interference.
-Joyce Stepp

Bulldoze that disgusting mount of wet dog feces and do it today. Jail anyone involved with this colossal waste of money taken from makers. The entire Main St redesign $~@#s beyond what words can describe and hard working business owners suffer along with shoppers trying to find a parking space. And, not one member of the public saw what the final molar would look like ahead of time.
It’s time to make a clean sweep of not only the clueless politicians now in office, but the senior bureaucrats as well. Their incompetence is the stuff jokes are made of.
– Ted Nolan