Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : Memorial Cost Has Tripled <http://www.abqjournal.com/news/4news12-03-99.htm> Friday, December 3, 1999 By Anthony DellaFlora Journal Staff Writer After two years of dissension, revision and mediation, the cost of a proposed memorial to 400 years of Spanish presence in New Mexico has more than tripled. As originally conceived, the Albuquerque monument was to have cost about $180,000. The current estimate is $600,000. The price kept creeping up after the project became embroiled in controversy over whether New Mexico founder Juan de Oņate should be included. The focus of the first proposal was a bronze sculpture of a pointing Oņate. A later proposal recommended a different version -- with more elements and no Oņate. But city officials, at the urging of various members of the community, ordered the artists to include Oņate in addition to other elements. The current proposal, which will be unveiled before the City Council this month, includes several individuals, livestock and landscaping. "I understand the original budget," said Gordon Church, coordinator of the city's Public Art ! ! ! ! Prog ram, where the project originated. "But I think also we have to recognize the depths at which this project and the issues involved with it have affected our community. "It's obviously gained importance, and it's reflected in funding for this. It is an important step in our history, and I think it certainly deserves an increased level of funding." The City Council on Dec. 13 will get its first look at the latest design by artists Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera, who is Hispanic; Nora Naranjo-Morse, who is from Santa Clara Pueblo; and Betty Sabo, who is Anglo. Models or sketches of the design are not yet available, Sabo said, but the section of the memorial she and Rivera created -- "La Jornada" (The Journey) -- will consist of several life-size bronze figures of settlers and livestock in an area 10 feet wide by 60 feet long. Controversial New Mexico colonizer Juan de Oņate will be among them, but won't be particularly prominent, Sabo said. Naranjo-Morse's portion of the memorial will b! ! ! ! e a more conceptual "environmental" piece involving landscaping. The council will consider design only and will not be asked to make any decisions on the funding at the Dec. 13 meeting, Church said. Under the latest proposal, approximately $550,000 would go to the artists, but that still has to be negotiated, said Church. Improvements to Tiguex Park would cost roughly $100,000. Pat Montoya, an official with the city's Capital Implementation Program, said funding would come in part from $400,000 included in a bond issue..... snipped Oņate has been hailed by supporters as the founder in 1598 of New Mexico, the first European-settled state in the United States. But he's hated by detractors for his mistreatment of Native Americans, particularly at Acoma...
