NY Post
You’re sneezing for a good cause.
Outrage over a “sexist” statue in Queens prompted its removal and a nearly $1 million project that transformed its base into a planter — but neglect has led to a bumper crop of allergy-causing ragweed right outside Borough Hall.
The centerpiece of the 1922 monument “Triumph of Civic Virtue” — a nude man with a sword standing over two female figures representing vice and corruption — was exiled to Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery nearly a decade ago.
The move came in response to complaints of sexism from activists and pols, including since-disgraced, then-US Rep. Anthony Weiner, who proposed selling the 17-foot, white marble statue on Craigslist.
But following the statue’s removal, the fountain on which it stood fell into disrepair until the city spent $960,000 to restore its stonework and add lighting and benches to create the “Women’s Plaza in Queens” in 2017.
The fountain was also turned into a planter.
At the time, former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman — who had called for the statue’s removal while in office — said the renovation work created “a beautiful space at Borough Hall where people can relax and women will now be celebrated rather than denigrated.”
But since then, it’s again suffered from a lack of upkeep that includes ragweed growing in the former fountain.
Borough President Donovan Richards on Monday called the conditions “shameful” and said he wanted to finally replace the original statue with a new one.
12 comments:
Ragweed is actually ecologically beneficial, unlike another statue
Trim the bush !
I predict a George Floyd statue is coming to Queens
The statue showed the triumph of civic virtue over vice and corruption. Given that it was situated in Queens it HAD to go.
I thought it looked better with the Fat Boy statue on it.
Civic Virtue: The statue's removal almost 9 years ago HERE.
AND
Queens Crap coverage HERE.
The statue showed the triumph of civic virtue over vice and corruption. Given that it was situated in Queens it HAD to go.
That was why it was sent here in the first place, and Borough Hall purposely neglected it so that it had to be moved, a bit like Riker's Island Jail falling apart which is in reality yet another step to making it a wealthy enclave.
Very fitting that Mother Nature would grow Ragweed at a Women's Plaza.
Ooops, I stumbled upon the Incel section by mistake. Next article...
Then, on May 5, 2016, following is what documentary filmmaker Robert LoScalzo had to say on the online blog, Queens Crap, regarding how Melinda Katz handled the publicly protested issue of Civic Virtue (as the fate of the statue carried no due process, public referendum and/or Richmond Hill Historical Society approval):
❝As far as what is happening with the Triumph of Civic Virtue statue is concerned, one could never invent a story like this, because it just would not be believable.
City first denied any secret plan to move the colossal statue off of Queens Boulevard. City then implemented its secret plan, and moved statue to a Brooklyn cemetery on the pretext that cemetery would bear certain costs of restoring the statue. Instead, public funds paid to restore the statue—on the premises of the cemetery, where the statue remains now. Meanwhile, City is implementing separate plan to renovate the statue's fountain base at Queens Boulevard, at a cost that is 10 times greater than the cost of restoring the statue, and WITHOUT ever returning the statue to its base once everything is restored!
Would you restore the frame of the Mona Lisa, then put just the frame on display while sending the actual painting somewhere else, and expect the public to believe that's terrific? That's what is happening. The only beneficiary here is Brooklyn's private Green-Wood cemetery, which received a valuable colossal public art statue—still public property—for the cemetery to display as it pleases.
That's why this issue is not over, yet. And, it's a perfect example of why Queens is the laughingstock of art, among all of the City's boroughs.❞
Dear Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl:
I am the president and founder of Civic Virtue Task Force (civicvirtuetaskforce.com).
At a monthly meeting that was held by Community Board 9 on Tuesday, June 10, 2014, I personally handed Queens Borough President a copy of the enclosed handbill of the statue entitled, 'Triumph of Civic Virtue,' in which I photographed exactly 17 months after its publicly unapproved of eviction to Green-Wood Cemetery, on Wednesday, May 14, 2014 (where it remains on temporary loan, since December 15, 2012), and after the statue was finally cleaned, conserved and preserved sometime after its relocation.
The front of my handbill presents a full color photograph of Queens County's beloved, public art monument, and on the back is a full account of all 'knowingly false' reasons that were listed by the administration of Queens Borough Hall, regarding why they allege that the statue could not be maintained—on site—at Kew Gardens Plaza, in the first place (at a cost of less than $50,000, versus the more than $200,000 that it cost all taxpayers' to relocate it to Green-Wood, without due process, public consent and approval).
For more than a decade I, and former District 9 Manager, Mary Ann Carey, had been working strenuously to appeal to the previous Borough President, Helen Marshall, to honor her fiduciary commitments to finally conserve, preserve, repair and maintain Civic Virtue.
(continued)
Then, on May 5, 2016, following is what documentary filmmaker Robert LoScalzo had to say on the online blog, Queens Crap, regarding how Melinda Katz handled the publicly protested issue of Civic Virtue (as the fate of the statue carried no due process, public referendum and/or Richmond Hill Historical Society approval):
❝As far as what is happening with the Triumph of Civic Virtue statue is concerned, one could never invent a story like this, because it just would not be believable.
City first denied any secret plan to move the colossal statue off of Queens Boulevard. City then implemented its secret plan, and moved statue to a Brooklyn cemetery on the pretext that cemetery would bear certain costs of restoring the statue. Instead, public funds paid to restore the statue—on the premises of the cemetery, where the statue remains now. Meanwhile, City is implementing separate plan to renovate the statue's fountain base at Queens Boulevard, at a cost that is 10 times greater than the cost of restoring the statue, and WITHOUT ever returning the statue to its base once everything is restored!
Would you restore the frame of the Mona Lisa, then put just the frame on display while sending the actual painting somewhere else, and expect the public to believe that's terrific? That's what is happening. The only beneficiary here is Brooklyn's private Green-Wood cemetery, which received a valuable colossal public art statue—still public property—for the cemetery to display as it pleases.
That's why this issue is not over, yet. And, it's a perfect example of why Queens is the laughingstock of art, among all of the City's boroughs.❞
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