Omaha Forums

Great....  They haven't been able to fix the lights on the pedestrian bridge in two years, what make us think they can fix the fountain...

Heartland Park fountain damaged

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110826/N ... in-damaged

Omaha World-Herald wrote:The fountain will be out of service for the rest of the year, said Aida Amoura, spokeswoman for Mayor Jim Suttle.

The fountain's pump room flooded, resulting in significant damage to motors and electrical equipment.

Amoura said it is expected to take a long time to obtain replacement components.

"A long time to obtain replacement components."  What kind of special equipment is it?

I think its really old...

Is the other fountain still broken?

Brad wrote:I think its really old...

Is the other fountain still broken?

Well can't they replace it with something really new?

And what other fountain are you talking about?

skywalker23 wrote:And what other fountain are you talking about?

This one:

The smaller fountain used to be at Omaha's public water utility, and was brought out of storage when ConAgra built the Heartland of America Park.  There's more story there, but I don't know it.  Not sure which fountain was damaged, but the old fountain would be difficult to find parts for, I suspect.  The fountain in mid-lake has got to be a much newer design.

HuskerDave wrote:The smaller fountain used to be at Omaha's public water utility, and was brought out of storage when ConAgra built the Heartland of America Park.  There's more story there, but I don't know it.  Not sure which fountain was damaged, but the old fountain would be difficult to find parts for, I suspect.  The fountain in mid-lake has got to be a much newer design.

The big fountain in the middle of the lake is now broken.

I am not sure about the little one now, but it was broken last time I was down there.

Yeah, my wife and I walked around the lake last night and saw the broken fountain in all of it's crappiness.  It really looks terrible when it's not running.

Seriously though, what kind of super-special pump is this?  These fountains are just a combination of off-the-shelf plumbing anyway, so it's odd that they can't swap out to a similar pump of another model.

Oh well, at least they aren't planning on changing it out for a lame patio with a spoon on it.

Maybe it has to do with how powerful the pump has to be?

Well the fountain is "300ft" high, that takes some serious pressure.

Anyone know the status of the Heartland of America Park fountain?  I heard that a pump broke last year and I was assuming that they would have it fixed by this summer.  They are planning to have it working sometime this summer, correct?

I think I remember hearing Late summer this year...  Just another think downtown that is Broken and needs to be fixed.

I hope it is fixed by then.  My finace and I were thinking about taking some wedding pictures down there the first weekend in Oct., so I hope that it is up and running and still on at that time.

skinzfan23 wrote:I hope it is fixed by then.  My finace and I were thinking about taking some wedding pictures down there the first weekend in Oct., so I hope that it is up and running and still on at that time.

We are in the same boat...

This is pretty ridiculous that it's taking them this long to fix a fountain.

Parts of this rebuilding / replacing effort must at least be underway, as the waterfall at 8th and Farnam hadn't been working since last year's floods, and about a week or two again was restarted.  Still no main fountain, nor the waterfall on the east side of the lake, over by the stairs...

I can't wait for it all to start working.  The waterfalls and especially the fountain give the park a much nicer vibe, when they are working compared to the dullness otherwise.

Heartland fountain waiting on repairs

Looks like it won't be running until Spring  :(

Thats too bad.

Wow, this is ridiculous.  The article makes it sound like they've been waiting around hoping to get disaster money to fix it.  I'm working on a project to refit an entire oil rig in 9 weeks.  I think a small fountain could be fixed in less than 2 years.

Government.

Half the water features in GLM aren't running either.

iamjacobm wrote:Also in HoA Park the tour boats are sitting there on the docks looking old and raggedy as can be.  If they aren't going to be used why don't they pull them out of the water.

No Kidding, those needed to go a couple years ago!

I blame those mischievous swans.

$900K to fix the fountains in next weeks agenda.

How much would it cost to rebuild Jobbers Canyon? Or maybe the city could replace the fountain with a statue of Mike Harper for the swans to |expletive| on... How much would that cost? Or maybe if the city developed GLM they could muster enough maintenance money to have ONE nice park downtown instead of two embarrassments.

mr. omaha wrote:How much would it cost to rebuild Jobbers Canyon? Or maybe the city could replace the fountain with a statue of Mike Harper for the swans to |expletive| on... How much would that cost? Or maybe if the city developed GLM they could muster enough maintenance money to have ONE nice park downtown instead of two embarrassments.

I like the statue idea!

It passed.  FEMA will pay all but $40,000 that the city will foot.

FEMA money for a fountain?? Okay....

jessep28 wrote:FEMA money for a fountain?? Okay....

Because the damages were caused by the flood.  Now wether FEMA should be spending money on this is certainly a conversation that could be had.

The damages were caused by a rainstorm and had nothing to do with the Missouri River flooding. I don't see how the fountain is eligible for FEMA $.

ThatGuy wrote:The damages were caused by a rainstorm and had nothing to do with the Missouri River flooding. I don't see how the fountain is eligible for FEMA $.

I think it was because the rain storm couldn't drain as normal because the flood forced the city to close the drainage ways to keep the flood waters out.  If there were no flood the rain would of never collected that much.

That makes sense.

Has anyone heard anything new on the fountain repairs.  I sure would be excited to see it up and running again come spring.

I've been to the park a few times this winter, and they appear to be working on it.  They have a little work trailer set up, some sort of little boat and a floating dock and a power cord or something run through the pond that leads to the fountain.

TLGJames wrote:I've been to the park a few times this winter, and they appear to be working on it.  They have a little work trailer set up, some sort of little boat and a floating dock and a power cord or something run through the pond that leads to the fountain.

That's good news!

Collin wrote:City says Heartland fountain will be back on by Memorial Day

About Time!  Great News!!!

Well that only took over two years, great job Omaha city government.

Story on KETV said it will be one of the tallest fountains in the world, shooting 310 feet into the air.  I assume this means it is bigger than the old one?