One step closer to a new Monument Avenue after planning commission votes
However, some groups say more public input is needed before anything more is done. “They’ve been sitting there for a year. Why don’t we make a thoughtful process to envision them or remove them,” said Ashley Hawkins, Executive Director of Studio Two Three in an interview with 8News Tuesday.
Hawkins said for a while, she wasn’t even aware that the planning commission was taking the issue up this summer. She said it felt like the city was steam-rolling through the process when there should be a discussion of whether or not to somehow use the pedestals in the reimagined Monument Avenue.
“We want to make sure that if people want to consider those spaces for healing and transformative dialogues that they can voice their opinion to the city and that’s factored in,” said Kate Fowler, Studio Two Three’s development director.
Fowler and Hawkins said if the public decides to move forward with removing the pedestals, that’s okay. They just want more conversations to be had about it.
In late June, Hawkins sent a letter to the city that asked them to slow down and hold in-person input meetings before doing anything else.
“I think it’s incredibly important that Richmonders continue to be a part of that process moving forward,” she said.
“Over the summer of 2020, Richmond citizens rapidly recontextualized several of the monument’s bases, transforming them into powerful platforms for shared voice and civic demonstration,” Hawkins wrote in an email. “We want a process that honors these efforts and envisions these platforms as sites for healing, historical recontextualization, and/or spaces for new works of art.”