To the editor:
What is up with the sculptures on Willis Avenue in Perry?
We have lived in Perry since 1980. We have pastored churches and co-pastored another one. As I drive down Willis Avenue, I see the new sculptures that have been put up by the city.
Do you like them? Many do.
I do not understand why something that looks like an antenna is called a girl. It looks nothing like a girl. Maybe I just don’t see it, and that is possible.
Then you have the suspened cement mixer, at least that is what I think it is. Makes no sense to me no matter how you look at it.
Then you have the plow. Come on, Perry, a plow? Okay, I get it. It symbolizes the farming community. But it is so big and out of place. Why there in that location?
Then there is the one of the speed train. Okay, Perry was once a railroad town. I get it, but I have heard comments like, “It looks like a cruise ship instead of a train.”
We have the sculpture on the Hotel Pattee Patio the same on both sides. Maybe I am blind and can’t see what people call art, but it looks to me like someone went into a junkyard, welded a bunch of things together, painted it silver and sold it for an amount way over its value, and the Hotel was the lucky recipient and made an entry and exit with it.
Then the giant bike. This one is great! I love it right along the trail, beautifully lit up and perfect for the culture we are in now. Oh, I almost forgot the silver blue jay! But our Blue Jays are blue and not silver. Oh, well.
That is my opinion. Perry will survive these monuments, and many people like them. That is fine but for my taste, most of them are senseless, and the money could have been spent in better ways, such as better computers for the police and to update the things they need there. Or our fire department or rescue squads could get things they need.
I know the money was donated, but was it designated for the sculptures?
Maybe a citizens’ patrol to help the police department. They could go along and check downtown for unlocked doors, signs of burglary and the like. No, they would not have law-enforcement powers, but they could have walkie talkies to get a hold of officers quickly. That would free up officers to do other duties, of which they have many.
Are people driving from miles around to see the sculptures or bring income to Perry? Probably not. I thought the boulevard or Willis Avenue looked good before they put all of the sculptures there.
I say, if you are going to do something, then put something in that will draw people, like maybe a mom-and-pop restaurant.
Perry is a great city and almost is now a suburb of Des Moines. I am sure the city council and mayor and others who decide these things could put their heads together and come up with some good things.
Patrick Dittert
Perry
You are so correct when you said it looked like it came from a junk yard. It did when it first started. It came from Stanley Iron and Metal in Herndon, Iowa, at that given time. The owner at that time has since passed away, and that business has been sold several times since then. Just wanted to set the record straight.
As the former owner of the Hotel Pattee, let me say that any developments in Perry are critical to its survival. Perry is a great community and has so much momentum going for it. Art is subjective to the eye of the beholder.
The iron sculpture at the entrance to Soumas Court has many pieces and parts from old farm implements donated by area farmers. I like to look and pick out what came from our farm.