September 22, 2007
Let’s revive the Tennessee Tower, responsibly
I’m of two minds about reviving the Tennessee Tower as a nighttime billboard of sorts for downtown visitors:
- I have fond memories of making my way downtown growing up and seeing the tower’s illuminated messages. The messages were generally civic-minded and encouraged positive action and goodwill in the community. The use of the tower as a billboard added a certain charm to downtown, too.
- I am more aware today of the need to conserve energy than I was when the tower last regularly displayed nighttime messages. As a teenager, I embraced the notion that we all need to live responsibly by taking care of the environment, but as an adult today, I have a better practical understanding (I hope) of how we as a society can do that.
I would like to see the state consider alternatives for using the Tennessee Tower as a message board that use less energy than in the past. Would it work, for example, to reverse the effect so that only the windows that form the letters of a message were illuminated while the rest of the tower remains dark? What about using the tower as a message board in the daytime instead by using blinds with bright colors to form the letters? I hope there is a way to balance the desires for restoring a beloved tradition with conserving our limited resources. [Image: The Tennessean]
![Rob Robinson](http://thinktrain.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/Rob.jpg")
Sam Davidson said,
September 23, 2007 @ 8:19 am
Since I saw this story in the TN, I’ve been thinking of how they could make such an initiative green, or environmentally responsible.
And I haven’t quite figured it out yet…
Rob Robinson said,
September 24, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
It may be a tough thing to pull off. I’m hoping there’s a way…