At Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting First Selectman Fred Camillo had an agenda item, “Request to accept gift of statue of President George H.W. Bush for display on Town property (First Read).”
Earlier this week, at the American Legion Veterans Day ceremony outside the former US Post Office, Camillo had talked about a statue of the 41st president of the United States who served from 1989 to 1993.
“Some time in 2025 we will re-dedicate this with a flagpole that will be lit up, an obelisk that will be lit up, and a water feature beyond those trees. And, in a few days the RTM is going to be presented with a gift for a statue of a veteran who grew up here and spent the first 18 years of his life in Greenwich.”
Speaking of George Herbert Walker Bush, Camillo said, “That person was the youngest person shot down in the Navy as a pilot, at 18 years old in the South Pacific. He then flew 58 combat missions, and then went on to serve in many different capacities and finally ended up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as our 41st president.”
However, since Veterans Day, the process of gifting a statue has been clarified, and during Thursday’s Selectman meeting, Camillo said, “We want to do the process exactly right. We’re trying to follow the blueprint of other gifts, like at Cos Cob Park.”
He noted that the Board of Selectmen can “support” a gift, but that before it goes to the RTM for gift acceptance, it must first be reviewed by the P&Z commission.
P&Z will decide whether the statue is required to go through the Municipal Improvement process.
The commission will review the site plan.
Camillo added, “Eventually we’ll go back and offer a gift acceptance of lighting up the flagpole, the obelisk and then taking the old drinking water fountain that’s not working and making it a lit up water fountain. And then re-dedicate it as Veterans Plaza Park, which was first dedicated in 1927.”
The entire Greenwich Avenue is a Historic National Register District, and has been since 1989.
That fact was also relevant in 2022, when the town grappled with the proposal to re-align the intersection of Arch Street/Havemeyer and Greenwich Avenue, which would have taken a chunk out of the lawn in front of the historic Havemeyer building, now home to the administrative offices of the Board of Education.
As for the proposed statue, the Historic District Commission, who are advisory to the P&Z commission, would also opine on a site plan.
Mr. Camillo said the statute would be funded privately.
He did not name the donor, but a letter from local resident L. Scott Frantz was part of the meeting agenda packet, as was an image of a life size bronze statue of George HW Bush in Houston, TX that would be similar to the one proposed for Greenwich.
The letter, dated Oct 28, 2024 notes the cost of the bronze statute was estimated to be between $30,000 and $45,000, with installation costs of $20,000 and lighting costs of $5,000, all of which Mr. Frantz would cover in addition to anyone else who wishes to contribute.
Stay tuned…
Life size bronze statue of George HW Bush in Houston, TX that would be similar to the one proposed for Greenwich in front of the former US Post Office at Veterans Plaza Park.
Obelisk in Veterans Plaza Park. Photo: Leslie Yager