The City of Portland has now officially floated several design proposals for what will go on top of the reservoirs in Mount Tabor Park after they are capped and buried. The powers that be are seeking to assure concerned neighbors that lots of water will still be seen. Some of it, they gush, may even "dance"!

The designs are posted here, and there's a link to an online comment card nearby.

I must say that some of the drawings are pretty enough. The long-term aesthetic arguments for keeping the reservoirs open seem weaker with these drawings on the table. (See that right there? I wanted to say the arguments don't hold water. But I didn't. That's mature restraint.)

I'm still worried about the cost, though. It seems exorbitant, and the need for something this extreme has never been properly established.

Moreover, the decisionmaking process was flawed and biased right from the get-go. And apparently the city hasn't learned a single lesson from the several procedural fiascos to date. The official web posting on the designs, which is dated this past Sunday, is demanding that comments be received by the day after tomorrow. Ja wohl, Commissioner Saltzman!

And even though things will be picturesque when the project's finished, they are going to be butt-ugly for many, many months while all the ripping and tearing is going on.

Score one for the city, but in the court of public opinion, those who want the whole project re-thought still have the advantage.