After RTM Rejection, New Location Emerges As Possible Site For George H.W. Bush Statue In Greenwich

GREENWICH, CT — After the Representative Town Meeting last week voted to reject a gift from a town resident to design, construct and install a statue of George H.W. Bush in front of the Havemeyer Building off Greenwich Avenue, officials are now working on a venue change.

First Selectman Fred Camillo said Thursday during the regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting that the Town Hall property is now a possibility for the statue, despite saying at last week's RTM meeting that Bush had no connection to the building, which once served as Greenwich High School.

"I'm getting lots of positive feedback, even from the RTM, about just moving the venue. We're going to look at Town Hall," Camillo said during the updates portion of the meeting. "I'm right now in the middle of preparing that and getting everything lined up."

The RTM is required to examine gifts worth over $50,000.

A motion during the June 15 special meeting to postpone the statue agenda item indefinitely failed by a vote of 86 in favor, 104 against, and five abstentions, with members indicating they wanted to vote outright on the merits and leave the door open for a statue in the future. Postponing an RTM agenda item essentially "kills" the proposal.

That vote on the merits of the gift was ultimately 81 in favor, with 110 opposed and five abstentions.

Greenwich resident and former state Sen. L. Scott Frantz (R-36) offered the gift as a tribute to Bush, the former president who spent his formative years in Greenwich when his father, Prescott Bush, served as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut.

Frantz's gift is valued at $100,000 and includes a maintenance fund for the statue.

Previous plans called for the statue to be erected just off the sidewalk at 290 Greenwich Ave.

During the approval process, Planning & Zoning Commissioners had concerns about an overcrowding situation at that location, as there are existing monuments in the area that's known as Veterans Plaza Park.

The Planning & Zoning Commission last December unanimously approved plans to erect the statue in a planting circle at the entrance of the Havemeyer Building, which currently houses the Greenwich Board of Education.

RTM members last week argued the proposed location on the Havemeyer Building property could limit future redevelopment of the site as the town considers relocating Board of Education offices and repurposing the building.

They also argued the town's public art policy was not followed because the proposal was not reviewed by the Cultural Arts Advisory Committee, called for greater community input into the project, questioned the lack of a public call for artists or sculptors, and suggested Town Hall as an alternative location.

The Cultural Arts Advisory Committee was put together by Camillo six years ago. Camillo said Thursday the committee is set to meet on Friday for the first time.

"This will be the first thing they're going to take up," Camillo said, noting he hopes to have a new proposal go before the Historic District Commission, and ultimately the RTM when it reconvenes in September.

"We certainly will amend this and let people know we're listening," Camillo said. "It was a close vote [on June 15], but I think almost everyone who spoke was in favor of it. They just wanted it in a different venue, and that's democracy. We'll get it done."

Bush attended Greenwich Country Day School, and also met his wife of 73 years, Barbara, at a dance in town.

When Bush turned 18, he enlisted in the Navy and eventually flew 58 combat missions during World War II, his official White House biography says.

During one mission over the Pacific Ocean, Bush was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, and he was rescued from the water by a U.S. submarine, according to his bio.

Bush served as the CIA director, ambassador to the United Nations and vice president before he was elected as the 41st president of the United States in 1988. He lost a re-election bid in 1992 to Bill Clinton.

Bush died on Nov. 30, 2018, at the age of 94 in Houston, Texas.