‘Requiem’ : Sculpture Is the Latest Pet Project of a Succession of Burbank Mayors

When it comes to pet projects of Burbank mayors, everybody’s a critic.

Mayor Michael R. Hastings learned this the hard way recently in his determined attempts to establish a memorial to war veterans or, in Hastings’ words, “The Defenders of the Constitution,” in Burbank.

The city is still buzzing about how Hastings’ efforts flopped at the box office last month. A fund-raiser starring entertainer Bob Hope to generate money for a sculpture, an abstract 12-foot-high piece by Erwin Binder titled “Requiem,” attracted only 1,500 to the 6,000-seat Starlight Amphitheatre.

When the City Council voted last week to help bail Hastings out of the show’s $19,000 deficit, Councilman Robert R. Bowne blasted the mayor for conducting a “Michael Hastings production with his name all over the posters and advertising” without the involvement or prior approval of the rest of the council.

Hastings is not the first Burbank mayor to enthusiastically embark on a pet project and pressure other council members to approve it after it has taken on a life of its own. Former Mayors E. Daniel Remy and Larry Stamper, pro-development politicians who were defeated in 1985, also had special projects that were not universally embraced.

Remy, a Lockheed executive who was mayor from 1984 to 1985, paved the way for a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jet monument to be placed at George Izay Park in 1984. He said he felt it was important that the city honor one of its most important companies.

Since then, officials have often grumbled about the $1,000 in city money it takes each year to painstakingly maintain the 54-foot-long plane that stands 13 feet off the ground. Some officials said the city paid $25,000 for the plane, but Remy said Lockheed donated it.

“The Air Force is very particular about the way we treat that plane,” said Councilwoman Mary Kelsey. “We have to take a picture of it every year and fill out a form that shows we’re taking care of it.”

Burbank officials have worried about the city’s liability when small children try to climb on the plane. They also feel it should have been placed at Burbank Airport.

Stamper, who was mayor from 1983 to 1984, was the main force behind a proposed Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum for Buena Vista Park. He was privately working with Autry officials many months before City Council members were aware of the proposal, said Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard.

Although the council in late 1984 approved the concept for the museum, residents of the area surrounding the park vehemently opposed the project, complaining that it would cause noise and congestion. In May, 1985, Autry proponents withdrew their proposal, deciding to build the museum elsewhere.

The museum is being constructed in Griffith Park between the Los Angeles Zoo and the Golden State Freeway. It has grown by half, and will be a “state-of-the-art,” $30-million museum, Stamper said.

“There isn’t a week that goes by where someone doesn’t say to me, ‘What a pity we don’t have that in Burbank,’ ” Stamper said last week.

‘Kept Them Informed’

He also disputed Howard’s claim that he did not inform other council members about the museum. “I called every member privately and kept them informed on what was going on,” he said.

He said Howard used the museum as a campaign issue to help defeat him in 1985. “It became a personal ego trip and a political opportunity,” Stamper said.

Council members who have seen the massive structure rising above the freeway and blocking views of the mountainside rejoice that the Burbank proposal fell through.

“It’s doesn’t look like something we would want at all,” Howard said. “Better there than Burbank.”

Other mayors have championed less tangible causes.

During her 1985-1986 term as mayor, for example, Howard pushed for state legislation that would enable Burbank to purchase privately owned hillside property in the Verdugo Mountains where developer Sherman Whitmore wanted to construct several luxury homes. She traveled to Sacramento several times to meet with legislators.

Howard said there is a danger in the system of appointed mayors and their pet projects.

“It’s very important that a mayor keeps in mind that he or she is only one of five votes, but it’s very easy to forget that,” she said. “You think you have more power than the rest and that you can do whatever you want. It’s human nature.”

Burbank mayors serve by appointment of the other council members on a rotating basis. The mayor presides over City Council meetings and has a higher profile than other council members, but does not have any more authority.

Howard said she and other council members were uncertain about supporting Hastings’ commission of the “Requiem” sculpture and his idea for a show. The uncertainty deepened when he asked in August whether the city could make a loan of $25,000 to help fund the Bob Hope show, which would be repaid from profits.

“It was out of courtesy to Michael and the mayor’s office that we didn’t say anything to him at that time about what we thought he was doing,” Howard said.

“I do feel he should have involved us, but he didn’t. He knew where he was going, and he just informed us of what he was doing. You have to give him credit. He did it on his own.”

However, the show lost money, and, when Hastings asked the city to forgive $16,000 of the loan, Bowne called it “a gift of public funds.”

Even though Hastings says no city funds will have to be spent in the acquisition of the sculpture, the council will have to make the decision where “Requiem” will be placed, as well as allocate money for its maintenance.

Although all council members say they believe in the concept of establishing a tribute to war veterans, they’re not sure that “Requiem” is it.

The mayor’s artistic taste has been called into question with his endorsement of “Requiem,” which some officials have jokingly called a three-compartment brassiere. Reviews from council members on the piece, which Binder says symbolizes an eternal flame, have ranged from lukewarm to negative.

Howard said, “I’m not into sculptures and modern art. But to someone else, it might be beautiful.”

“All I can say about it is I don’t care for modern art,” Kelsey said.

Vice Mayor Al F. Dossin said, “I’m into things like John Wayne on a horse.”

A model of the sculpture was featured on the poster advertising the Sept. 27 benefit at the Starlight. Ward Grant, one of Hope’s publicists, said he wondered why the poster pictured the sculpture and not Hope.

‘Would Have Sold More’

“If Bob Hope had had his picture on that poster, they would have sold a lot more tickets,” Grant said.

Commenting on the poster, Howard said: “I just hope when I see the finished project, it will be a lot different than what is on the poster.”

Despite the attacks, Hastings remains committed to the project, vowing at least one more fund-raiser to pay for the projected $35,000 to $50,000 cost of the bronze sculpture.

“I thrive on these kinds of challenges,” said Hastings. “I take the good with the bad, the ups with the downs. I’m taking a lot of bad on this right now, but I’ll turn it around into a success.”

Binder, a 53-year-old Los Angeles artist, said the sculpture is being cast in bronze at his studio in Mexico City. He said Hastings contacted him two months ago about creating a tribute to veterans.

‘Expressionistic Piece’

“I’m glorifying those who died in war,” Binder said. “It’s an abstract, expressionistic piece, but strong. It has lots of strength and movement, like a flame.”

As to the less-than-wild reception for the piece by City Council members, Binder said: “You find that attitude all throughout history. I can’t please everyone, and I don’t intend to. I’m doing the best I can for what I believe is a work of art.”

Binder has crafted several sculptures that are exhibited throughout the country.

The sculpture will be “awe-inspiring,” Hastings said. “When you imagine it bronzed and 12 feet tall, it will be uplifting. When you see it and are close to it, it will do something to you. It will have a strong power.”

“Art is very subjective,” he said. “We could have done something where a soldier carries a dead soldier, but do we have to show a morbid scene? I think the city will be very pleased by what they see.”