Newport Beach won't name park after Ronald Reagan, but agrees to statue
After previously voting down a proposal to dedicate a city park to Ronald Reagan, the Newport Beach City Council on Tuesday voted to commission a statue honoring the former president.
In October, a proposed Reagan centennial celebration met with resistance from some who said that the city shouldn't name a park after a political figure. Councilman Keith Curry, who was then Newport Beach's mayor, said he would not give up.
"This is a national thing," Curry said before Tuesday's meeting. "People all over the country are doing things for President Reagan. He is a historical figure; he is no longer a political figure."
The statue is estimated to cost $50,000, Curry said. He said he hopes to have the money raised and the statue erected before summer. The statue likely would be taller than the former president -- 6-foot-4, compared with 6 feet, Curry said.
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-- Mike Reicher, Daily Pilot / Times Community News
Photo: Former President Reagan, center, with John Wayne, right. Credit: Daily Pilot
EDITOR'S PICKS:
Why not name one of the toxic waste sites from his idiotic Cold War weapons race after him? We are still cleaning up his disastrous mess.
He would hardly want to be associate with something as "socialist" as a park that poor people could get into, although I'm sure he wouldn't mind taxpayer dollars being wasted on making a statue of himself.
Posted by: save the deserts! | January 12, 2011 at 11:25 AM