The Hoboken City Council will consider two new statues and one new mural at Wednesday evening’s meeting after being reviewed by the Hoboken Art Committee.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“The City of Hoboken put out a call for artists in late 2022 with the intent of bringing more public art to Hoboken. The resulting proposals were thoroughly reviewed by the Hoboken Art Committee in 2023, concurrent with development of the City of Hoboken Public Art Plan, which was adopted by the City Council in January 2024,” city spokeswoman Marilyn Baer told HCV in an email.
“The planned art includes a statue of Marsha P. Johnson at Stevens Park, a sculpture at the Pier C Park fishing pier titled The River That Flows Two Ways in celebration of the Hudson River, and a mural in the lobby of City Hall titled Layers which honors the beauty of everyday life.”
She continued that the art would be funded by the city’s art fund, which was established via executive order signed by Mayor Ravi Bhalla in June 2018, and would be overseen by the city’s public art administrator.
These artworks would be funded by the Arts Fund, a dedicated funding source for permanent public art established by executive order in 2018. The project would be overseen by the City’s Public Art Administrator as outlined in the adopted Public Art Plan.
According to their three respective resolutions, The River That Flows Two Ways would cost $500,000, the Marsha P. Stevens statute would cost half of that ($250,000), and the City Hall mural would come with a $11,600 price tag.
In an email blast this morning, the Fund for a Better Waterfront expressed concerns about The River That Flows Two Ways proposal.
“The City of Hoboken has revealed little about a $500,000 sculpture proposed for Pier C Park. Nevertheless, a public hearing will be held at the May 1 City Council meeting beginning at 7 p.m.,” they wrote.
“FBW has many questions about the selection process, the appropriateness of such a piece on Pier C Park towering over a Hudson River, and the sculpture’s long-term viability.”
The three public hearings will be part of Wednesday’s council meeting at City Hall, 94 Washington St., at 7 p.m. and the session will stream live on the city’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
$250,000.00 for a statue of a drag queen ?
$500,000.00 for a gaudy, massive, potentially unstable sculpture blocking Hoboken’s iconic view ?
Hoboken can and should do better when spending tax payer money.
That first comment tho
City Council did not hear the “art” proposal because they were hearing about yet another young man murdered in the HHA