HomeMy WebLinkAbout4.5 - 2319 Veterans Art Word Selection
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STAFF REPORT
CITY COUNCIL
DATE: December 4, 2018
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM:
Christopher L. Foss, City Manager
SUBJECT:
Veterans Art Word Selection
Prepared by: Tegan McLane, Cultural Arts and Heritage Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City Council is being asked to approve wording that will be included in a public
artwork honoring veterans and military personnel, to be located at Don Biddle
Community Park.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the following words to be included in the Veterans Art: Honor, Service,
Courage and Integrity.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
N/A
DESCRIPTION:
On February 21, 2017, the City Council selected the future Don Biddle Community Park
as the site for public artwork to be commissioned by the City to honor all who have
served and currently serve.
At the March 20, 2018 meeting, the City Council approved artist Steven Whyte’s
Crossroads design (recommended by the Heritage and Cultural Arts Commission),
which features four larger-than-life bronze figures, representing veterans of different
eras, branches of service and demographics, standing at attention before four flags.
The figures are: an older male Caucasian Seabee from World War II, representative of
tradesmen who left established careers to join t he war effort and trained at the newly
established Camp Parks; an African-American Airman from the Korean War period,
when Camp Parks was a U.S. Air Force facility; a Caucasian male Marine from the
Vietnam era, and a modern-day, female Latina Army Reservist.
The figures will stand on a 26-foot square plaza, composed of granite pavers and
featuring an intersection of two concrete "roads" at its center. The roads will be
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constructed with a variety of textures to suggest jeep tracks, Marston matting used by
the Seabees, and footprints representing the many servicemen and women who have
passed through Dublin.
During the discussion at the City Council meeting, Mayor Haubert requested that
meaningful military value words be incorporated somehow to the finished artwork.
The artist has informed Staff of his plan to incorporate value words in the actual design.
The words will be etched in white granite at the points where visitors enter the artwork
space. As there are four entrances to the Crossroads, the artist requests the City
approve four words for this purpose.
At its November 8, 2018 meeting, the Heritage and Cultural Arts Commission reviewed
the items and recommended the incorporation of the following four words: Honor,
Service, Courage and Integrity.
These words were selected by the artist because they are values shared by two or more
branches of the military.
As the artwork is meant to honor all branches of service, the stated values of all have
been considered. The Department of Defense lists them as:
U.S. Army and National Guard – Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor,
Integrity and Personal Courage.
Navy and Marine Corps – Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
Air Force - “Integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.”
Coast Guard – Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty.
National Guard – Same as the Army’s values listed above.
Department of Defense – Duty, Integrity, Ethics, Honor, Courage and Loyalty.
Staff has discussed with the artist that it would be appropriate to try and place the words
on the entrance between two figures that share that value. For example, Service and
Integrity are values shared by Army and Air Force, so if the airman and the reservist are
adjacent, one of those values would be appropriate to place on the entrance that runs
between them.
STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE:
N/A
NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH:
N/A
ATTACHMENTS:
None.
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