Getting around downtown by car has become a real pain lately with all the construction. Being summer, that's really nothing new. However, getting through a central part of the city on foot is now also a little more difficult, as the Greene Square Park renovation project has begun. Or should I call it the Greene Square renovation project.

Today marks the official groundbreaking as the park begins it's $1.95 million facelift. Driving past the park in the past couple of days, you may have noticed it's now completely fenced off. My wife quickly picked up on the fact that many trees have been marked with "x"s as well, pretty much guaranteeing they will be cut down.  It's going to take some getting used to not having such a gorgeous park in the city for a while. Take that one step further as how this renovation is affecting so many different things.

For example, the new layout of the Downtown Farmer's Market is now a long strip, versus the traditional "round the block" layout. To me, it seems like it'd be a lot more congested.  However, that didn't stop the record number of people from showing up last weekend. Something else changing is the parade routes. The Freedom Fest parade will now take you through the new hotspot: NewBo District and Czech Village, with Imagination Square being moved to NewBo.

Looking at the designs, I'm confident the change will be for the good, linking the new library to the Art Museum, which seems to work nicely. And despite the "x"s, apparently not all the trees will be coming down.  There will also be a new sculpture installed (pictured in the gallery below).

All we can do now is wait, and wonder when the Square will be done, and if it'll stay on budget.  At least we have a great view of the progress from the top of the Library.  Here's to hoping we'll be able to see the Christmas tree there this year, and that the downtown commute doesn't get to much worse as the work begins.

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