Open letter to the RTM from Aakash Patel, to my fellow RTM members
The current plan is to locate the statue of George H.W. Bush front-and-center of the Havemeyer Building, replacing the new growth tree currently planted.
President George H.W. Bush deserves to be honored in Greenwich. His lifetime of public service reflects values this community holds dear. I want to be direct about that, because this vote is not about whether to honor him. It’s about whether we are locking in a permanent decision before the basic questions have been answered. That distinction matters, and I think it is the right frame for every member of this body, regardless of where you stand on the project.
Accepting the donation is the commitment.
I’ve heard the argument that we are simply accepting a gift, and that the First Selectman will keep other Town boards apprised as the design is finalized. But consider what that argument assumes: that some future board will say no after we have already said yes. That will not happen. Once the Town accepts this gift, the project has a momentum no subsequent process will reverse. This vote, framed as a formality, is the actual decision.
So what are we committing to? A permanent installation, in front of a building whose future has not been decided. The First Selectman has said directly and repeatedly that the statue, once placed, will not be moved. The Havemeyer Building is actively under consideration for a long-term private lease. The Board of Education, whose offices are inside that building, has not weighed in on whether they want a permanent monument placed in front of their home. No developer has been consulted on how a fixed installation – front and center – affects the building’s highest and best use.
The factual record on this project has not been reliable.
I can see the Havemeyer building from my house, so this is a project I’ve paid close attention to. Unfortunately, the basic facts have continued to shift as the project has progressed, including three different locations and no final design (the original was thrown out after the artist balked at the Town for using their famous design without permission).
The Town has a Public Art policy that exists for projects like this one. It was ignored. That policy also establishes a Cultural Arts Advisory Committee as a forum for community input. It has never convened. When a respected Town volunteer raised concerns about the location in good faith, he was publicly chastised as “partisan” and “anti-veteran.”
The location is not a secondary question.
Multiple Town boards have independently flagged that each proposed location risks overshadowing memorials to soldiers who died in combat. My fellow District 1 RTM member Sam Rosenfeld wrote about this in detail. There are other locations, including in front of Town Hall, that would honor President Bush’s record of public service without raising that concern. Those alternatives have not been seriously explored.
The First Selectman has repeatedly referred to the proposed site as “Veterans Plaza Park,” a name that has since been echoed without scrutiny. The location across the street is “Memorial Plaza Park”, a separate strip of land the Historic District Commission previously denied for this very statue. The current proposed site is simply the frontage of the Havemeyer Building, not a park.
The Town also seems to have ignored maintaining Havemeyer Building itself, with a stairway that has been in disrepair for months (within a stones throw of the proposed statue) and windows which have been broken for years.
Stairway in front of Havemeyer which has been in disrepair for months.
Windows on the rear of Havemeyer which have been broken for years.
What a no vote means.
The RTM’s role is not to second-guess every decision the First Selectman makes. But it is not to be a formality either. When a project arrives before this body with an unreliable factual record, no finalized design, little community consultation, and a proposal impacting a building whose future is unresolved, it is exactly our role to pause and ask for more.
A no vote in June is not a vote against President Bush, and it is not a vote against the First Selectman. It is a vote that says: get this right and bring it back. I ask for that revised proposal to come with a finalized design and location that does not compromise the building’s future or risk overshadowing existing memorials, and includes genuine input from the Board of Education and the community.
Aakash Patel represents District 1 in the Representative Town Meeting. The views expressed are his own.