What the heck is this thing?

We are still not finished with our bathroom remodel. There have been some workmanship and scheduling issues, along with the usual dramas and delays that accompany home improvement projects. We bought all of the plumbing fixtures at Dahl (see THIS post), which is located on Sinton Road just south of Garden of the Gods Road. There are two means of egress from this location, one of them involving an awkward, random traffic circle where Sinton and Northpark intersect. This odd sculpture sits smack in the middle of it. By now I've (literally) driven around it a number of times and paid little notice, but when Pat and I went to Dahl again the other day it finally caught my eye. It turns out that this is a monument to one of our former mayors, Eugene McCleary, who was apparently the Grand Poobah here for a decade, ending in 1973. I have to admit that I've never heard of Mr. McCleary. My family moved here in 1979, when Bob Isaac was mayor. There's a judicial building named after Bob, but as far as I know, this sculpture is the only other monument to any past Colorado Springs mayor.

This is a bad location for such a thing. Northpark Drive and Sinton Road are in an industrial pocket, with a few offices and a La Quinta hotel in the mix. But mostly it's warehouse-type buildings. Kind of a lonely, depressing spot -- I don't understand why they chose to put a monument there, of all places! Also, it's in pretty bad shape. A little timeworn. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, visually, either. Clearly the sculpture was meant to be viewed only from the front and the sides, because the back of it features an unlovely horizontal support. Why put it in a traffic circle, then? A 360° view of it is not ideal. All of this is very puzzling! My best guess is that at one time, The Craddock Development Company, who built it, must have had offices on this block, so naturally they would have placed it nearby. And at the time, this neighborhood may have been less industrial and more up-and-coming. As for the 360° problem, maybe the sculpture predates the traffic circle. Who knows?

At any rate, it's sad that this poor monument is in such shabby condition and surrounded by industrial buildings. I have no idea whether Eugene McCleary was a good mayor or not, but clearly enough people thought so or they wouldn't have built a monument to him! I think it should be cleaned up and relocated to a better location, maybe downtown near City Hall.

The back of the monument. I don't think this side of it was originally meant to be viewed, because of the obvious horizontal support.

And on a personal note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweetie, Pat. I love you honey!