Riverfront Park closed to proposals for statues

By Jeremy Boren
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, February 5, 2008

A moratorium on new public art and memorials in North Shore Riverfront Park leaves two 93-year-old bronze sculptures without a home.

The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority voted Monday to stop considering proposals for sculptures and memorials to be placed in the park, which runs along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers from the Carnegie Science Center to the Ninth Street Bridge.

SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo said the master plan for the park calls for some of the land to remain as untouched “green space.”

Arthur Ziegler, president of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, wants to place in the park two sculptures that once sat on the entrances to the former Manchester Bridge.

“We would still like to see the portal sculptures from the Manchester Bridge located somewhere near there, as has been discussed,” Ziegler said. “I think it’s still something that should be considered.”

The Manchester Bridge was removed in 1970. The 13-by-37-foot sculptures that sat on it commemorated steel and coal workers, explorers and American Indians.

Three memorials and a public art sculpture sit on the mile-long North Shore Riverfront Park. The memorials honor law enforcement officials, Vietnam War veterans and Korean War veterans. The sculpture near the Carnegie Science Center is “Langley Observatory Clock” by artist R.M. Fischer.

Memorials to World War II veterans and the late children’s television host Fred Rogers are in the works. Once finished there will be six sculptures in the park.

Jeremy Boren can be reached at jboren@tribweb.com or 412-765-2312.