Here's a good article from TBJ. He’s baaack: The American
Tulsa Business Staff
9/27/2010
Last week, a group of interested citizens, business leaders and local officials met at The Silo Event Center, 4501 W. 41st St., in an attempt to reinvigorate community support of The American, a 207-foot tall Native American statue proposed in 2004.
Designed by Shan Gray as an entry into the 2002 contest that would choose a statue to be placed on top of Oklahoma City’s Capitol dome (Gray, though he earned 53 percent of the public’s vote, lost the competition; the statue that sits atop the dome is a bronze Native American named “The Guardian” that was designed by Enoch Kelley Haney), The American is a bronze structure that features a Native American with his arm outstretched, on which is perched a bald eagle.
When the project was announced in 2004 as a tourist destination to be situated in northwest Tulsa’s Holmes Peak, the highest point in the city, the community quickly rallied around the idea. However, support soon fell off when the proposed project failed to materialize.
County Commissioner Karen Keith, who led last week’s meeting, said Gray had been approached by other cities to build The American, but local leaders and citizens want to keep the project in Tulsa.
Randy Dittmann, who, with his wife, Sandi, owns The Silo, said he was moved to act when he heard The American might be constructed elsewhere.
“We can’t lose it,” he said.
The American, if it is constructed, will not be constructed at Holmes Peak, as originally intended, and, although no site has yet been determined, Dittmann said he’d like to see it built in west Tulsa. He said its construction could also ensure the construction of the Gilcrease Expressway.
Gray said he couldn’t estimate a cost for the entire project, but the statue itself is projected to cost between $25 million and $30 million. Additional costs would be dependent on the site, he said.
The goal of the meeting, according to those present, was to drum up additional community support and get the interest — and pocketbooks — of some of the city’s foremost philanthropists. Gray said $10 million of investment will get the project off the ground. The artist also hopes to secure city support in the form of infrastructure around the statue.
Mark Snead, former director of the Center for Applied Economic Research at the Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business, conducted an economic impact study of The American and determined, upon opening, it would garner $36.5 illion in local tourism expenditures.
