Saint statues do not represent taxpayer interests
I sent the following letter to city councilors and the mayor on February 10, 2025:
A model for a statue of St. Michael the Archangel
Credit: Office Of Mayor Thomas Koch, via The Patriot Ledger
Dear city leaders,
I am writing to request that you immediately stop plans to install two statues of saints at the new public safety building.
Here are just some of the reasons why:
They are religious statuary. They do not belong on public property, despite the fact that the mayor has called for the public and government officials to be "the apostles of our time." Our country was founded on the separation of church and state.
One statue portrays violence, specifically evoking the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. The mayor has publicly said that DEI is "baloney." But is this really the association you want residents to make with the people who are paid to serve and protect them? Doesn't that association ultimately make cops' jobs harder?
The statues are expensive. The building they're intended to adorn is already estimated to cost $320 million with interest. Taxpayers should not have to lay out nearly $1 million for non-essential decorations, especially when the city is in so much debt already.
They, like other statues at the heart of local controversies in recent years, were chosen without any public input. Boston allows residents to directly decide how to spend some of their city's budget. Public art projects would be a great subject for similar civic participation in Quincy. Public input could also save money by avoiding having to pay private developers to host statues that prove so unpopular that residents fight to keep them out of their neighborhoods.
Please put a public hearing on these statues on the agenda for an upcoming council meeting. If you do, I believe you will see just how out of step the designs are with residents' values and interests.
Sincerely,
Maggie McKee
