JobSight: Walnut Creek Veterans Memorial Plaza, Walnut Creek, Calif.
By K. Schipper
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Say one thing for the people of this Bay Area city: When they proposed combining new landscaping at city hall with a public art requirement and the community’s desire for a memorial to local veterans, it showed optimism.
The confidence turned out to be well-founded with the Walnut Creek Veterans Memorial Plaza, a stunning landscape project that relies heavily on several formal granite elements to achieve its vision.
Because the project fills so many different roles, however, it took time. Construction took the better part of a year before its Memorial Day 2004 dedication … and that was the easy part.
Gary Pokorny, arts, recreation and community services director for the city of Walnut Creek, says a lengthy process to select the designer, Cliff Garten of Cliff Garten Studios in Venice, Calif. – coupled with Garten’s willingness to work with locals, especially veterans – helped make the project a success.
