TBW Daily Diary

Jacquie Kirby Hensel called to remind me that the Harrisburg Young Professionals spring house tour is this Saturday. She will be showing the Billo/Kerr property for sale at 805 Green Street and two other available properties in our neighborhood will be shown as well . . . The opinion I am about to offer is sure to be unpopular with a lot of people, but I am not about to apologize for it . . . The passion for painting fire hydrants as gnomes, patriotic figures or day-glo abstracts first surfaced during the Bicentennial celebration in 1976 if memory serves. A few were cute but most were not, particularly after a year or two of weathering. In general, these artistic efforts were merely streetscape litter . . . I think the simple one-color scheme (orange, yellow or red) is much less offensive to the eye and, perhaps more important, is immediately obvious in an emergency. If my property were burning, I wouldn't want a second's delay while the responders try to locate their hook-ups . . .