Everyone needs a place to rest, but that can be problematic when those rest places are deteriorating.
Since May 30, the City of Moscow has been looking for donors — individuals, businesses or organizations — to sponsor new benches between 6th Street and 1st Street as part of its Downtown
Bench Program.
The donation fee for a bench is $1,600, which includes purchase, delivery, installation and a memorial plaque.
Parks and Facilities Manager Tom Grundin heads the program, and said there were three reasons for new benches.
“To make downtown look better, to have safer benches and to have community buy into the program,” Grundin said.
Grundin said the process for sponsoring a bench
is simple.
“It’ll be real easy – everybody knows to find me,” Grundin said. “And then we have an application for thwm that you’d fill out, stating, you know, who, what, why, when
and where.”
Grundin said once the bench details are approved, the benches take about 6 to 8 weeks to arrive.
“There’s no back on it, ‘cause people have to be able to sit facing either way and the sidewalks are so narrow that when you put a back on a bench, it takes up more room and then it’s harder to shovel snow around them too,” Grundin said. “So, we just went with a backless bench, it’s got arms at the end for people to
stand up.”
The benches will be designed after an 1890 model in order to complement downtown’s historic feel.
Grundin said the new benches will be made by a California company named Canterbury International.
“The same company was used to put in all the existing benches down there and the clock that’s downtown, that’s made by Canterbury too,”
Grundin said.
However, Grundin said, he has only had two inquiries about installing new benches since the program was announced.
“So I’ve had two inquiries and nothing’s developed out of that yet,” Grundin said. “So, we’re very cognizant that we have to develop a better marketing program.”
Due to this, Grundin said there is no deadline for donors to call and sponsor
a bench.
“It’s going to take a few years to replace them all,” Grundin said. “I would anticipate if we could do three, four, five, six a year, that would be awesome, beause at some point the ones that are out there are going to fall apart.”
Grundin said he was excited to make downtown look better.
Andrew Jenson can be reached at [email protected]