Friday Funny: Copy-Cat Planner Can't Help It

The Onion has once again focused its satirical gaze on the art and science of planning, this time telling the fictional story of a planner in Des Moines, Iowa, who just couldn't help but copy Philadelphia.

1 minute read

March 28, 2014, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Philadelphia

Vic15 / Flickr

"Saying that his designs felt oddly familiar as he was drafting them, urban planner William Reston confirmed Monday that while envisioning a revitalized downtown for Des Moines, IA, he had absentmindedly laid out the preexisting city of Philadelphia," claims the fictional account in The Onion. 

“Honestly, I really should have spotted it when I changed Western Gateway Park’s name to JFK Plaza and added Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture, but for whatever reason it just made sense at the time,” said the totally-not-a-real-planner William Reston.

Monday, March 24, 2014 in The Onion

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