The Oklahoman
Mon April 14, 2008

City's historical statue could go unfinished if funds fall short

By Bryan Dean
Staff Writer

The Land Run of 1889 offered free land to anyone who could race across central Oklahoma and stake a claim.
But the heroic-sized bronze statues commemorating the Land Run on the south end of the Bricktown Canal are not free.

Increases in the cost of materials caused the city to remove seven of the planned 45 pieces from its contract with the sculptor five years ago, and funding for the additional pieces still has not been identified, officials said.

When funding for the project runs out in 2012, the city will face a choice — find more money or leave the monument unfinished.

The $5.1 million project is funded by the city, state and federal governments. A federal grant paid for $1.7 million, and the state dedicated $1.7 million, part of it through the Centennial Commission.

The city has allocated funding on a yearly basis to cover its $1.7 million share.

The project was pitched in 2000 as part of the Oklahoma Centennial celebration. In 2003, the city reworked its contract with artist Paul Moore to delay seven of the pieces.

The pieces also are taking longer than expected to cast.

The city is paying for the sculptures as each piece is completed by the sculptor and cast by a Norman foundry. The two largest pieces, covered wagons weighing 10 tons each, took 11 months to cast, said Jane Abraham, assistant to the city manager.

"They are bronze and the inside is stainless steel,” Abraham said. "There is a lot of metal in the whole thing. You have challenges too because there are only so many foundries that can handle heroic-size sculptures. We've tried to find other foundries that do high-quality work.”


The options are limited

It will all be worth it, though, Mayor Mick Cornett said.
"We consider this by itself a reason to pull off the interstate in Oklahoma City,” he said. "Even with the smaller number of pieces, it is still the largest series of bronze anywhere in the world. It's still going to be a significant piece and something the community is going to be very proud of.”

The monument will be visible from the new Interstate 40 Crosstown Expressway, which is scheduled to open in 2012, the same year funding for the monument will run out if new sources are not found.

Moore, the sculptor, said the foundry costs went up about $1.2 million early in the project. The delays have mostly been related to the size of some of the pieces, the wagons in particular.

"Every day it's something new that pops up,” Moore said. "With any project you are going to have problems, the bigger the project the more problems you are going to run into.”

Material costs have leveled off some, but Abraham said more pieces could be put off if costs continue to rise.

"There is a little bit of room to accommodate some additional cost increases,” Abraham said. "The increases have slowed down and for the last couple of pieces they haven't increased.”

Abraham said the city can't expect Moore to foot the entire bill for increased costs.

"Then he'd go out of business, and we would have unfinished work,” Abraham said.

Cornett said the city has put off a decision on whether to look for additional money to finish the project as it was originally conceived, but the $5.1 million will not cover more than 38 pieces.

Cornett said part of the problem is the nature of a public art project as opposed to road or building construction. There are no frills to cut.

If the project runs over budget, the monument has to be scaled back or the budget has to be increased.

"Your options are less on a deal like this,” Cornett said. "You can't change artists or materials. You deal with it the best you can.”


Finishing the project

David Poerio of Mustang works downtown and admired the partially completed monument Thursday. He said the monument could be a big tourist attraction and should be finished, even if the city has to find more money.
"I don't think they should cut back on their original vision,” Poerio said. "There's got to be someone out there who would fund something like this. I think people would get off the highway, especially with the walking paths. I come out and walk this area for lunch all the time.”

Abraham said work should speed up now that the two largest pieces are done. Cornett said there is no disputing the quality of the work, which he believes will increase public sentiment for completing the monument.

"I think that eventually we will see every piece done,” Cornett said. "But right now, I think we just need to concentrate on finishing the project as it is and then at some point in the future determining what our funding options are.”

Personally, i don't think this is anything like Tulsa is getting, and will people pull off the highway to see this?????????? Although it would be a shame if it's not finished. i haven't seen any renderings of this, but it sounds pretty cool.

The sculpture is already well underway, and thus far, is spectacular.

What is Tulsa getting? Did I miss that reference in the article?

From what i heard and understand, Tulsa is getting a statue of an indian that will be taller than the Statue of Liberty. People will be able to go up in it and use it as an observertory. That will get people off the highway. The artist lives in Edmond and he was deciding between OKC and Tulsa and went with T-town for whatever reason. i read a couple years ago that OKC had more money raised and land to put it on, but Tulsa had neither, i'm sure that is not the case today. I think this would be a great addition to our American Indian Cultural Center. i wrote the Mayor about this asking why OKC didn't go after this a lttle harder. He wrote back and said OKC has some big things comming and not to worry about the indian statue. I'm thinking.....this statue is going to bring Tulsa a lot of money and recognition, that's pretty big. NBA teams come and go, this statue will be there forever. i'm sorry i have no article about this, it has been years ago. Maybe somebody here knows more about it than i do and can provide some evidence, maybe someone with Tulsa ties.

I'm quite sure that as this project progresses that additional funds can be raised through corporate and individual donations.

In the meantime, I'm anxious for it to keep moving along because it really is something special and unique to OKC.

Is there a site we can go to to see a master plan of this? i don't know that much about it, sounds great.

It is very impressive! I hope they can finish it!

Here are a few pictures I've taken...

I haven't been able to find anything on Tulsa's statue since 2004-05. Not sure if the project is still in the works, especially since Tulsa recently voted down their big riverfront project.

Skyline Snapshot - Public Projects

Look here, it is kind of small but this is the original rendering.

kim

Seeing the sculptures in person -- along the canal with the skyline behind -- is way more impressive than any photos or renderings.

It's a fantastic idea that has been very well executed thus far.

Shawnee News-Star.com: Story
Here is the latest i have found on the Tulsa statue. I wonder who the OKC invester was? OKC lost a big one, but the land run monument will be nice to.

sgt. pepper, I'm not sure which cave you've been hiding in, but the "American Indian" statue Tulsa "is getting" is a joke at best. OKC WAS selected to have it, but politely turned it down. If you followed up on it, it basically wasn't realistic and the funding was short by far. OKC had far too many things going for it, and didn't want to mess with another proposal that will probably be nothing more than that. It is a long shot at best. OKC doesn't need any more projects that don't get off the ground, Tulsa was despirate after OKC has surpassed them with MAPS, MAPS for Kids, NBA, etc. Tulsa took the offer after OKC declined, they've been trying to work on funding for years and still haven't and probably won't find enough.

Anyhow, the landrun monument has been up in partial for several years now, just south of Bass Pro. Go check it out sometime, it's worth seeing.

yes metro, i need to get down there and see the monument. You are right, the land run monument is here, being built, the indian is still a pipe dream. The mayor is right, i should stop worrying about that statue and look around and take in all OKC has accomplished....and all the exciting stuff that is going right now. This land run monument is a big part.

It is ironic that none of the Tribes located around the Tulsa area are donating much money to the statue. It must be so awful even the indians don't want it.

This needs to be finished in it's entirety. As mentioned above, it's really impressive and unique, and photographs don't really do it justice. We need to find the money somewhere. Any big donors out there?

Yeah, "The Indian" project is dead.


I wonder if we could get some National Parks Service money and this could be the Land Run National Monument or something of the sort. It's a very unique historical event and I think it makes sense that it should be recognized somewhere in the NPS system.

I'd even like to see a Land Run museum built in conjunction with the sculptures.

The Land Run is probably the most unique thing about Oklahoma City (apart from the Native American heritage) and we absolutely need some sort of tourist attraction along the canal and in the general area of Bricktown.

I'm not certain which saddens me more, an apparent low commitment to completing the original vision, or that so many pieces have been in place for some time now and there are still folks who are completely unaware.

It's beautiful to behold, and yes, it ought to be finished, in full, and without delays.

What a great idea.

Welcome has all of tulsa's stuff going up, including the giant statue.

That would really cap that area off quite nicely. As an "outsider" just learning about the Land Run it is very intriguing and the 2 or 3 small plaques by the sculptures don't truly do the whole event justice. It isn't like there won't be a large open area just to the north of the sculptures after the Crosstown is torn down. I suppose it would be a good idea to get the sculptures all in place first but after that happens a small museum there would really be a nice finishing touch.

Could erect the museum on piers above the parking lot they built south of basspro. Danged thing almost reaches the edge of the canal and an elevated museum would improve the looks of the area considerably, nice glass wall reading room overlooking the canal and exhibit, similar to the 2nd floor in the Norick Library downtown

Ain't gonna happen. Your war president has downsized the NPS and underfunded more important projects in the system such as fire control, etc.

If you want the statues finished, step up to the plate and donate your money. In the end, this project was done like the Ford Center. Poor planning and no thought given to "what if" scenarios such as labor and material increases on a project with a long time completion horizon. Now Mayor Mick says we will worry about that when the money runs out. Typical. Hello Mr. Taxpayer this is your chance to make OKC a "Big League City". Yeah, we screwed up the planning with our typical mode of operation, But, you have a chance to extend the Ford Center tax and our poor planning will disappear. Taxpayers will catch on to this scam sooner or later.

Yeeeeaaaa! We finally get a hint from you. You're obviously not from the United States since you said YOUR instead of OUR. But unfortunately for you...you've been here so long that words like AIN'T have found their way into your dialect. Give it up, you're a solid Oklahoman now. Quit belittling the rest of us!

Another important consideration is that the Land Run monument is in the area where the Oklahoma River taxi will let out and then connect people with the Bricktown canal water taxi.

So, the whole area could be developed into some sort of transition that would draw people both ways: Bricktown to the north and Boathouse Row to the south.

And because the new I-40 will pass directly to the south (and I believe this section will be more at grade rather than below it) I'd like to see something added to the monuments to really catch the eye as you drive past; at least illuminate them and perhaps add more height to part of the display.