Council officially backs down on controversial COVID-19 artwork following backlash
The mayor will officially withdraw his support for the COVID-19 artwork at the next Northern Beaches Council meeting following a whirlwind of public backlash.
Manly
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A controversial proposal for a COVID-19 sculpture which was estimated to cost up to $1.7m has been abandoned by the council after it sparked community outrage.
The artwork touted as a means to support the struggling arts community would have been part of the Manly to Palm Beach coastal walk and commissioned through the council’s merger savings fund.
Instead it was labelled “inappropriate” and led to a petition calling for the project to be culled.
On Tuesday Mayor Michael Regan is set to withdraw his support for the sculpture, with agenda paper’s revealing his plans to “rescind” the motion.
Cr Penny Philpott, who came up with the original idea, said she had to seek counselling over the matter after copping criticism.
“I instigated it [the rescission] because there was so much abuse on social media and it was totally misconstrued from the start. I was really down about it all and it was unexpected because I doing it with the best intentions for the arts community,” Cr Philpott said.
“People used it for political scoring and grandstanding, so I thought it’s not worth it, there will be another way to support the arts community.
“There’s not enough work out there but artists are a resilient lot. They’re suffering financially, but so is everyone else.”
Northern Beaches Cr Rory Amon was one of several councillors who led the charge against the sculpture and welcomed the move to abandon it.
“I think it’s embarrassing it’s taken this long for the mayor to put up this mayoral minute. He’s had two of three opportunities to vote this down, it’s about time he’s done this,” Cr Amon said.
“The whole proposal was embarrassing to start to finish and I’m happy we can put an end to this embarrassing saga.
“The community was pretty upfront about what they thought about a COVID-19 memorial. The disappointing thing is it took the council so long to listen. It was an absurd idea,”
Mayor Michael Regan has been contacted for comment.