Is The City Of Minneapolis Getting Tired Of The Mary Tyler Moore Statue?!?.....Maybe!

[Brian Damage]

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/630*425/1statue0214.jpg

In Minneapolis, the road to bronze immortality runs straight through City Hall.

City public works staff approve permits for private memorials or tributes to notable people installed on public land -- such as bronze likenesses of actress Mary Tyler Moore and columnist Sid Hartman -- with input from an arts commission. But an effort is underway to give the City Council responsibility for what people or events should get a monument on public property.

"We have the policies whereby we decide whether to accept a gift or [approve] a permit," said Mary Altman, the city's public arts administrator. "But we don't have policies that talk about who decides who gets memorialized or what is memorialized."

The city Arts Commission's Public Art Advisory Panel drafted a policy that was presented to a city planning panel Thursday night. Altman said she will soon show it to several department heads and council members.

In addition to giving the council "responsibility for determining whether persons or events are deemed significant enough to merit a memorial or tribute," the policy also requires them to seek input from appropriate city commissions and boards. Here is a sampling of the judgment criteria:

• "Has the person(s) or event made a substantial historical, social, cultural or economic impact upon the city, state, country or cultural community within the city? Do they represent the city's highest ideals?"

• "Will the memorial or tribute have timeless qualities and make a statement of significance to future generations?"

• "Is the memorial or tribute consistent with the city's Preservation Plan and other plans?"

• "Is the memorial or tribute unique? (Multiple memorials or tributes for similar groups are discouraged.)"

The policy states that memorial statues should generally be "larger than life," or about 115 percent of life size. Memorials should be for people who have been dead for at least three years, or events that took place at least three years ago.

"It ... is really an important civic discussion: Who should we pay tribute to in the city?" Altman said.

The initial reaction from the council was not enthusiastic. Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy said she has not seen the proposal, but these issues tend to be "remarkably controversial."

Council Member Lisa Goodman said it was "like taking a political football and tossing it from one team to another."

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/139256418.html

[OH Nuts!]

I don't think they're gettin tired of Mary - at least, THEY SHOULDN'T. She brought a lot of great publicity to the city. Her statue meets many of the criteria stated, at least to me.

[Brian Damage]

I sympathize with Minneapolis city leaders in trying to develop criteria for who or what gets memorialized on public land ("In search of gold standard for bronzes").

As the article stated, we already have a gift policy that, for example, allowed statues of Star Tribune writer Sid Hartman (a real person) and Mary Richards (a TV character played by Mary Tyler Moore) to adorn our streets.

But did anybody stop and realize that after Sid and the real-life Mary pass on, their statues will change purposes; they will become beloved memorials (with flowers likely piled up at their feet). Then the city will be hard-pressed to remove these gifts, and the public will assume that these are city-funded memorials to famous locals.

Yet these statues would not likely fit the city's guidelines for memorial-worthy landmarks. So I see a big loophole here: If you want a memorial of someone, make it a gift to the city while he or she is still alive, because your gift will some day become a memorial that won't need approval (and likely never would get approval).

While the city is now considering limiting its future memorials to "115 percent of life size," your memorial can be any size you want it to be.

JACK BECKER, MINNEAPOLIS

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/630*425/1statue0214.jpg

[OH Nuts!]

Well when they pass yes there'll be lots of gifts and flowers at first. But eventually it will die down (no pun intended). I really don't think it's going to be the problem he imagines.