Dead $500,000 locust Burlington art project raising hackles

Ted Cohen

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Vermont Daily Chronicle

A pricey new “sculpture” in Vermont's largest city is triggering a wave of taxpayer protests.

The center of the controversy is a dead black locust tree that was "commissioned” as part of a downtown “art project.”

The tree didn't even come from Burlington, but from a Charlotte farm.

Even the steel stilts that the 60-foot tree is mounted on are raising questions as to their safety.

A Reddit critic said the entire piece is a safety hazard and legal liability, that the tree will rot and eventually have to be taken down - before it falls on someone's head.

The art project, the brainchild of Burlington City Arts, was designed to showcase the reconstruction of Main Street.

The art installation, titled "Lake Bone," was created by artist Nancy Winship Milliken.

“I think it's going to be a great landmark in the Burlington streetscape,” Colin Storrs, public art and grants program manager for Burlington City Arts, said.

If landmark connotes debate, it's met its mark.

The debate across social media over the elevated dead tree is focused not only on the design but on the cost.

Critics claim it cost $500,000, while defenders say the figure represents the entire art budget for the downtown “beautification” project.

It's apparently a distinction without a difference.

“I've got a bunch of black locusts in my backyard I would have donated,” said Redditor “whaletacochamp.”

He calls the monstrosity “the elephant at Pine and Main streets.”