Rec & Parks Commission Casts Shadow on Solar Web Project 

Carolanne Sudderth

Mirror Staff Writer

   Oh, what a tangled (Solar) web someone has woven. 
   The long shadow of public opinion is falling across the Solar Web, casting doubts on its future as a public sculpture.
   Residents questioned the safety, cost and location of the sculpture at last Wednesday’s special meeting of Santa Monica’s Recreation and Parks Commission The speakers didn’t mince words; neither did the Recreation and Parks Commission. 
   “This project sucks,” Commissioner Steve Mount told the group just before the Commission voted 5-to-1 against recommending it to the Santa Monica City Council 
   The Solar Web is the last of the series of three public art sculptures which began with the Singing Chairs and The Art Tool. Designed by environmental artist Nancy Holt the open framework structure is comprised of 5” aluminum piping, describes an area 52 feet wide and 72 feet long and stair-steps its way from a height of two feet to 16 feet. At its summit, a circle representing the sun is held above the ground by right-angled members that rise from the ground. 
   Directly underneath the circle sits a 18” high platform of rubber-topped concrete. The placement of the shadows cast by the framework to this and three up-ended and half-buried discs just outside the structure will indicate the hour, the equinoxes, and the solstices, like a giant sundial, or a tubular Stonehenge
   Concerns about safety and liability have arisen from the structure’s resemblance to a jungle gym. Some documents have described it as a jungle gym. The fear is that people will climb on it, fall and injure themselves. 
   Peter Davison told the commission that apparently there was a time when it was expeditious to present the Solar Web as a jungle gym. “Now that it has been shown how dangerous a 16-foot-high jungle gym is, they’re saying it’s not a jungle gym.”
   Jean Ann Holbrook presented the Commission with a 1988 “Agreement on the Placement of Public Art in Recreational Areas.” The document was signed by the Recreation and Parks and the Arts Commission and states that “Artworks shall be designed to maximize public safety, with the understanding that the artworks will likely be touched and climbed upon by adults and children.”
   Art Commissioner Zena Josephs read a passage from the “Handbook for Public Playground Safety” published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,stating that a six-foot fall into loose sand could prove fatal to a child. 
   Reminding the Commissioners that originally, each of the three Percentage for Art projects was budgeted for no more than $30,000, Brown Goodwin said that, over the course of 15 years, the price for the Solar Web has risen to $270,000. Close to half of this will be underwritten, but $145,000 will be billed directly to the city. 
   Mary Hardy brought in the additional expense if liability was incurred. “$270,000 is a lot of money, but it’s nothing compared to the settlement the city will have to pay when somebody falls and breaks their neck.” 
Currently a member of the Rent Control Board, Bruria Finkel has championed the Solar Web since its inception 15 years ago when she was on the Arts Commission. Calling it a “tremendous asset,” she downplayed the potential for injury. 
   “In a school, we have 500 children, and I can tell you, a child doesn’t fall every day and become quadriplegic.” 
   Harry Shearer was the first to object to the sculpture’s location on the beach, comparing the Solar Web to a wedding present given to a couple on the condition that they move to Lake Tahoe—“a gift metaphorically,” he added, “ because we’re going to have to pay for it.” 
   “Let’s enhance nature’s work, not our own,” he said.
   Shearer noted parenthetically that he has yet to receive official notice of any public hearing on the Solar Web from the city, though he lives less than two blocks from the proposed site.”.
   Emmelita Hodgin got right to the point. “I do not want this Solar Web on the beach,” she said, “Litter by any other name. There is nothing more inspiring than a pristine beach with the moon smiling down. We do not need man-made things to appreciate God’s gifts.” 
   Art Commissioner Jorge Pardo said “It doesn’t block the view, it enhances it. Former Mayor Dennis Zane was on the City Council when the Solar Web was first suggested. The sculpture had not been intended to be a thing of beauty or to enhance the beach as much as “the natural elements, important solar and celestial events, to provide an opportunity for celebration and reverence”
   Architect Jim Mount disagreed. “Five or six people may be able to see these great events. He suggested that four-inch models of the sculpture be sold to the public.”
   “Maybe we can get our money back,” he quipped. 
   Commissioner Susan Cloke asked Risk Manager Tom Phillips “When is something a jungle gym?”
   Philips said he would have to check with staff. “We do not think that children will be able to climb it because of the size, and the dimensions,” and added that posted signs would make it clear to older children and adults that the Solar Web is not a jungle gym. Commissioner Neil Carrey asked why Risk Management’s staff report addressed climbability issues only for children under 12. “Was there ever a concern about the kids between 12 and 18?”
   Phillips said that his department had responded to a particular concern. “We looked at what we were told to look at.”
   Obviously dismayed, Carrey said he felt that the Commission had been given information that had been selectively picked. “This is very, very troubling, very flawed. There are a lot of missing links. What really troubles me is the safety aspects we’re not hearing about. If this was looked into, I really feel the public has a right to know.” 
   Bob Gabriel told the commission, “You know, we don’t always get a second chance. Maybe the fact that this thing has been running along for 15 years is an omen.”