Garden Grove Offered as Site of Landmark

Look out, New York, here comes Garden Grove.

The Big Apple may have the Statue of Liberty, but a Garden Grove councilman wants to make this slice of the Big Orange famous for . . . the Statue of Responsibility.

After reading about a Hollywood publicist’s idea for a monument on the West Coast to rival the 301-foot tower on the East Coast, Councilman Mark Leyes this week suggested that Garden Grove be the place. His council colleagues agreed, approving a resolution to explore the idea further.

Never mind that nobody is talking about where the money would come from or even what the monument should look like. “It could be a park, a hill or a mountain,” Leyes said. “Something modest, but nonetheless compelling.”

The idea really has not gone much further than a magazine article last summer by publicist Michael Levine, who has represented pop star Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand and Charlton Heston.

Levine’s idea was to honor the principle of responsibility with a symbol to recognize America’s “common regard for our obligations and duties.”

But would such a monument be out of place in a county recently famous for a bankruptcy for which no officials want to take responsibility? No way, said Leyes, who says that his support for the monument has nothing to do with his campaign for a seat on the Board of Supervisors. Win or lose, he said, he will follow through on the idea.

“Why have monuments to great public officials in the cesspool of Washington, D.C.? They need reminders of how to do things,” said Leyes, noting that Garden Grove did not participate in the county’s failed investment pool, which plunged $1.64 billion in value and caused the bankruptcy. “Orange County needs that symbol more than anyplace else.”

Garden Grove, he added, is “an island in a sea of irresponsibility.”

Though the council supported the idea, several members were skeptical that Garden Grove would be a good spot for the monument.

“I would much rather see it off in the ocean,” Councilman Tony Ingegneri said at Tuesday’s council meeting. Concerned about the monument’s size, Ingegneri suggested that it go “maybe on Catalina.”

Levine said the symbol’s scale and location are open for discussion.

And Levine is used to skepticism. An East Coast newspaper snickered that his idea was typically Californian, “something out of Steve Martin’s [movie] ‘L.A. Story.’ ” Still, the idea, Levine said, has garnered support from such varied public figures as Rep. Sonny Bono (R-La Quinta) and the Rev. Cecil Murray of the First AME Church in Los Angeles.

As for the monument being located in Garden Grove, Levine said he is “touched” by the offer. But no matter where on the West Coast it ends up, he said, “it would be nice to counterbalance the Statue of Liberty.”