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treitz3 wrote: »

Many Home Depots are the same way with a lot of items now. PIA!

Tom

My brother is a mgr. at a local HD. They've been locking up power tool cartons in cages for a couple of years. He said the thieves knew where the Li-Ion batteries were placed inside each product box. They would simply slice the box open and steal the expensive battery and leave the box untouched on the shelf. He said he's already seen one person with wire cutters trying to cut open the cage fencing. He said the cages have definitely limited losses for the stores.

His store is in a safe suburban area. Nowhere is safe anymore it seems. He has hundreds of theft stories.

He gets so very upset that he can't do much. Each store has a few specialized personnel that are the only ones allowed to apprehend a suspected thief. They must know they have taken something and they must be stopped within the building. So very much is still lost, it's just sad!

I thought this was a Container Store at first.

mrbigbluelight wrote: »

George Peabody Library in
Baltimore.

Wonder how much use it sees

@mrbigbluelight thanks for a good lead-in for this Chicken structure in Georgia below. I read this story in middle of June and had not found time to post.

George Peabody Library in
Baltimore.
Wonder how much use it sees

---

The Chicken structure is a perfect example of how our governments work to waste our money.


Government At Work Chicken with possibly overnight rental space
in Fitzgerald Georgia.
Wonder if it will ever be used

Small Georgia city will keep ‘largest’ chicken, but clips record topiary
Georgia News
By Matt Kempner
June 13, 2023

Fitzgerald city leaders voted Monday night to clip plans to finish what would have been the world’s largest topiary.

But Mayor Jason Holt said the small south Georgia community will keep the metal frame that he says may be the biggest chicken statue.

The rusting roadside attraction sat unfinished for years, raising some local concerns but also garnering national media attention over dreams for the 62-foot-tall chicken topiary. The original plan, championed by a previous mayor, called for overnight rental accommodations inside the beast.

Holt said the project, paid for from a special tax fund, has cost the city nearly $300,000 and it was unclear how much higher the tab could go. The rebar structure and much of the rental unit was built, but adding plants on the exterior to make it a topiary would have added still more unbudgeted bird costs.

Holt said the city council voted 8-0 to follow the advice of an appointed citizen committee, which essentially recommended freezing the chicken: Secure the structure, paint it red, remove interior tanks that were part of a water system, encircle the fowl with a 6-foot fence to keep kids from climbing it, add LED accent lights as decorative flourish, and install landscaping.

Putting feathery-looking pampas grass near the base might eventually make it look as though the big chicken is sitting on a nest, the mayor said. Or so that is the hope.

“I guess we will still be the largest chicken but we won’t have the largest topiary,” Holt said.

Fitzgerald, a community of about 9,000 people about 20 minutes from I-75, has long embraced chickens as its sort of spirit animal. Long ago, wild chickens gravitated to the area. Some residents decorate their yards with small chicken figures. And a photo of chickens is the main image on the city’s website.

Nothing was as big as plans for the big chicken, though. After the project languished, some wanted to tear the whole thing down. But Holt said city leaders have been told that could cost another $40,000, which would have added to what he said was already “a colossal waste” in building the bird.

It was unclear what it would cost to complete the topiary, Holt said. Officials were told maintenance costs alone would have been $50,000 annually, not including staffing expenses. Even then, horticulturists who were consulted predicted that shade from two nearby trees would limit sunshine on part of the structure, limiting plant growth.

“We would have the world’s largest chicken with a case of mange,” Holt said.

City leaders also were told it would be costly to make additions to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act in order to rent out the interior living space.

Still, it’s conceivable that the idea of the Fitzgerald topiary chicken might fly again.

Holt said none of what the city council approved would preclude one day making changes, such as adding plants as originally planned or completing the rental unit.

But, he added, “I don’t see that happening.”

From a Flickr group called Stick Figures in Peril.

Untitled by Jamie, on Flickr

^^^ A long time favorite of mine!