Whispering Giant enclosure on agenda
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A permanent protective enclosure for Dunkirk's "Whispering Giant," the distinctive wood carved statue on Lake Shore Drive, is on today's city Common Council agenda.
The resolution supporting the enclosure notes Peter Toth's sculpture "was originally completed during the summer of 1973 and was carved from the lower trunk of a dead elm tree that grew near the corner of Fifth Street and Park Avenue in the city."
The sculpture depicts a Native American. It "stands as a sentry to the city and a reminder of the indigenous peoples who originally roamed the Lake Erie shores."
Notably, funding for the enclosure is "contingent upon grants acquired through the Department of Development and as determined for such purposes by the treasurer," the resolution states.
It's not clear what the design of the enclosure would be. The resolution "authorizes the Department of Development to employ means as available to design and provide a suitably visually appropriate protective enclosure… as well as recommend design improvements to the sculpture's superstructure."
Whispering Giant, just a few yards from Lake Erie, gets a beating on the lake's angriest days. The Department of Public Works covered the sculpture with a tarp last winter and built wooden, temporary enclosures in previous years. Toth restored the sculpture in 2014 after 40-plus years of stormy lakeside weather badly battered it.
Various officials have discussed a permanent enclosure for Whispering Giant for many years. An effort in the mid-2010s got no results. Last year, the council's Department of Public Works Committee discussed adding one, but time ran put before winter came and DPW sheathed the sculpture in the tarp -- a move that reportedly upset Toth.
In other business, the city is expected to sell four parcels to three residents, under another item on today's agenda.
A local law in 2018 allowed people to buy city-owned real estate directly from Dunkirk, including unopened and unpaved "paper streets" The three residents seek to do just that, at a price of $100 for three of the parcels, $50 for the fourth.
The residents want unopened portions of West Point Avenue and West Maple Street. James Muscato seeks a West Point Avenue plot adjacent to his Lake Shore Drive property. Patricia Adamowicz wants land next to her West Chestnut Street property, and Cherrie Vittum seeks two parcels -- the $50 West Maple Street one, and the third West Point Avenue plot -- adjacent to her West Chestnut Street property.
The city will retain easements in the parcels for utility and infrastructure access and maintenance.