Council May Cancel ‘Flight’s’ Departure

After several residents urged the City Council to reverse a decision made last month to move a 5,000-pound sculpture to the municipal airport, council members have agreed to reconsider the issue.

The 20-foot-tall sculpture, titled “Flight,” was commissioned in the mid-1970s as the city sought ways to commemorate the nation’s 200th anniversary. It now stands on the sloping lawn between City Hall and the Fullerton Public Library.

Council members, who voted to move the artwork to a location with higher visibility, said this week they will reconsider the matter at a 5:30 p.m. session Tuesday at City Hall and will likely leave the sculpture where it is.

“I think we’re pretty much persuaded,” Councilman Peter Godfrey said after hearing from a number of longtime residents who do not want the artwork moved.

Dede Ginter, a resident who served as chairwoman of the city’s Bicentennial Committee, said the sculpture belongs at its current location.

To move it, she said, would be a disservice and insult to the people who worked to get it there. She added that the sculpture, which many say resembles a hockey stick, has nothing to do with airports and airplanes.

“Flight,” according to a 1978 statement from its creator, Aldo Casanova, was erected to suggest in abstract terms “man’s indomitable delving into the unknown.”

Another resident offered to donate a sculpture to place at the airport if that would allow “Flight” to stay where it is.