Omaha Forums

I don't think I'm duplicating topics here (Admin feel free to remove this if so), but I saw in OWH today a proposed redevelopment of the stretch of green space splitting Happy Hollow Boulevard in Dundee into its original intended use as sunken gardens (but retaining some green space):

http://www.omaha.com/columnists/grace/g ... d2b6b.html

As a Dundee resident, I have to say this is pretty sweet.

That's pretty neat, but the name is absolutely terrible. It makes it sound like the garden went through a rebranding and the entire marketing team was composed of high school motivational speakers.

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:That's pretty neat, but the name is absolutely terrible. It makes it sound like the garden went through a rebranding and the entire marketing team was composed of high school motivational speakers.

To be fair to High School Motivational speakers, this is way worse

Yes that name is unfortunate...

I do think their hands were a bit tied as I think The Sunks is the historical neighborhood nickname for the area. They could've tried to rebrand it, but I doubt that would've taken.

People really don't like The Sunks? Who knew.

It sounds like a place I would set up a moonshine still and hunt some frogs. Maybe wrassle a gator, if I felt the inclination.

I think a new name would be needed.

iamjacobm wrote:People really don't like The Sunks? Who knew.

I got the sunks after eating some bad Mexican food.

Kind of strange to have people arguing here that they should have tried to manufacture some phoney name to replace a well established community name for a location after tossing some money at it. Maybe Le Towne Squarre would have been better?

I like the revamped park idea. Lets make it creative and fun! I would like to donate my grandmothers garden gnomes as well. She had a bunch of them and I just do not know what to do with them. Can we have a gnome party when it opens?
I like this as well.

Yeah anyone that lives or lived in the neighborhood knows this place as the sunks. I grew up around there and renaming it something other than the sunks would be difficult. Hopefully this project comes to fruition, it would be a great use of that space

Dundeemaha wrote:Kind of strange to have people arguing here that they should have tried to manufacture some phoney name to replace a well established community name for a location after tossing some money at it. Maybe Le Towne Squarre would have been better?

Le Towne Squarre Centre Pointe has a nice ring to it.

GSD wrote:Yeah anyone that lives or lived in the neighborhood knows this place as the sunks. I grew up around there and renaming it something other than the sunks would be difficult. Hopefully this project comes to fruition, it would be a great use of that space

I grew up in Dundee, albeit south of Dodge, yet this article is the first time I've heard it being called The Sunks. I even attended Dundee Pres. Church nearby. Strange name though. Guess it sounds better than The Ditches.... since it's really just a nicely graded extension of the creek bed that runs south from there down by Memeorial Park and Elmwood Park further south.

Glad they'll leave part of it open for kids to play football or soccer, and the skating rink.

https://www.facebook.com/omahasunkengardens/

This looks neat. Is this project moving forward or just an idea for now?

I'm indifferent to slightly leaning against this one. I don't live here, but I used to play around the sunks as a kid... I guess I'm struggling to see the point of this project.

I think people who live around here should focus on landscaping their own properties . If this will be privately funded, then whatever.

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:That's pretty neat, but the name is absolutely terrible.

^^^^^^ This! ^^^^^^ (_GAG!_)

Update on this well-intentioned project: https://www.omaha.com/columnists/grace/ ... 323c8.html

Apparently Dundee residents against the project asked for so many concessions from the project forerunners that by the time they agreed to something, it no longer fit the original vision sold to donors. So, the project is being no longer being pursued and donor funds will be returned.

ita wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:42 am Update on this well-intentioned project: https://www.omaha.com/columnists/grace/ ... 323c8.html

Apparently Dundee residents against the project asked for so many concessions from the project forerunners that by the time they agreed to something, it no longer fit the original vision sold to donors. So, the project is being no longer being pursued and donor funds will be returned.

Sounds to me like a bunch of people who think city open space is an extension of their back yard, and therefore they are the only ones who should use it.

Darn it! I was really looking forward to some cool yard art like the photos below. Now I will need to find a new home for her garden gnomes (and pink flamingos).

That name keeps reminding me of Sunken Gardens in St Petersburg Florida. Back in the 30s it was a swamp and a plumber bought it and drained it and then planted every kind of tree and plant he could find. It got so impressive that he turned it into a roadside attraction and made thousands off it. Eventually in the late 90s the place fell into disrepair and the city shut it down. After much public outcry the city fixed it back up and opened it again. The place is amazing.

GrandpaaSmucker wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:40 pm That name keeps reminding me of Sunken Gardens in St Petersburg Florida.

I'm sure it will be quickly nicknamed The Sucks.

Omababe wrote: ↑Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:03 am

GrandpaaSmucker wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:40 pm That name keeps reminding me of Sunken Gardens in St Petersburg Florida.

I'm sure it will be quickly nicknamed The Sucks.

Possibly. I am a native of this city and had never heard this green space be called anything. With the name "Sunks", one would think insult terms would be quick in coming. Unless this name was simply dreamed up by some marketer to get people to support their garden plan, and it will really just go ban to an unnamed green space where neighborhood kids play touch football.

It has been called the Sunks long before this plan came up. At least 20 years probably more.

iamjacobm wrote: ↑Fri Sep 21, 2018 9:31 am It has been called the Sunks long before this plan came up. At least 20 years probably more.

Seconded. Maybe it was never in writing as the Sunks, but if you ever did anything around there you knew it was called the Sunks. Friends and I used to play there as kids, and maybe that's why I was against it. They served me well as-is, and don't need "beautification" to get used. Send the kids out there to play tag, or hide and seek and they'll appreciate the greenspace just as I did... If kids do that kind of thing anymore.