Balto City Spends $200K for Inner Harbor Statue of "Du" Burns

[yuca]

How so?

Supposedly, he made the Inner Harbor what it is today.

Du Burns wasn't even elected Mayor, so I don't think he deserves a statue. Kurt Schmoke is more deserving of a statue, IMHO, since the people actually chose him. But I think it should be erected after his death -- I disagree with statues of those who are still alive being displayed.

I'm also not a fan of the Schaefer statue. Too soon, and there are negative incidents from his years as comptroller that are still relatively fresh in people's memories. He should have ended his political career after he left the Governor's office.

[Sprightly]

Supposedly, he made the Inner Harbor what it is today.

Du Burns wasn't even elected Mayor, so I don't think he deserves a statue. Kurt Schmoke is more deserving of a statue, IMHO, since the people actually chose him. But I think it should be erected after his death -- I disagree with statues of those who are still alive being displayed.

I'm also not a fan of the Schaefer statue. Too soon, and there are negative incidents from his years as comptroller that are still relatively fresh in people's memories. He should have ended his political career after he left the Governor's office.

Who? Du Burn?

[Marshan Man]

Baltimore City has three monuments to Christopher Columbus.

http://www2.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2492

Harbor East

Harford Road

Druid Hill Park

Lots of white people have statues and monuments in Baltimore City.

Not even I thought yb would be dumb enoug to make such a misinformed statement.

I learned something form your links though... the Frederick Douglass bust in Fells... didn't know it was there... I'll have to check it out...

[Candy Pickletoes]

Timing is everything and this just doesn't seem like the right time for something like this. It would be like me saying "man, i'd love to buy that new television"....the choices....television or mortgage...hmmmm...television or mortgage....I think I'll go with the television.

I'm all for putting statues and memorials up for people who deserve them but it has to be done at the right time and the decision made responsibly. If the citizens of Baltimore want the statue, put collection boxes in the convenience stores and gas stations, let the citizens donate as they wish and when the money is available put up the statue.

JMO

[bmore_ken]

LOL. Oh snap.

I guess YB should have googled first.

He never does. That's why he's always wrong

[Sprightly]

I can hardly to wait see the first elected African American woman memorialized in stone.

[sigmalady]

I can hardly to wait see the first elected African American woman memorialized in stone.

I certainly hope you are wrong!

[Marshan Man]

LOL.. I couldn't even imagine a sheila statue. How would she pose? Like the chickenheads in the club pics?

[Steveg85321]

If $200K wasn't wasted on an empty symbolic gesture like this, it would just be wasted on something else equally empty and probably more corrupt. At least this is something people can see. Maybe they can build it out of melted down scrap metal that city workers have been stealing. Or they could have the ethics board look into it... oh I forgot the ethics board never does anything.

[DaggerJohn]

The empty pomposity of building statues to Mayors is staggering. Like in 20 years anybody will stroll along the Harbor and say, "Oh, look, Johnny, look at the statue of Mayor Du Burns!'

All politicians do is build shrines and name buildings after each other. Doesn't "Du" already have a building named after him?

Let's just build a generic, composite Mayor statue and put every Mayor's name--starting with James Calhoun--on it. Geesh!

[Sprightly]

Where is James Calhoun's statue? Surely the first Mayor of Baltimore is deserving of one, right?

[Sprightly]

Maybe we should designate a street (Howard maybe) as "Statue Row" and erect 49 statues along the street.

[TheResearcher]

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ozymandias/

""My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'"

[yuca]

How about rename Gay Street as "Du Burns Way"? It would be a fitting name, given its history.

[zenwalk]

No doubt New Arts Foundry will appreciate the biz and along with the city getting a bronze memorial out of the deal, the money will also help keep local artisans gainfully employed. The bronze will likely continue to appreciate in value which can't be said for most "investments." You could waste that money on far worse things.

[boink]

He was called "Du" because he did.
-----------------------
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features...,7019554.story

Clarence H. Du Burns
First black mayor of Baltimore
1918 - 2003

Clarence H. Du Burns, a self-made politician who rose through grass-roots involvement in his native East Baltimore to become the city's first African-American mayor.

Throughout his career, Mr. Burns never let the public forget his humble beginnings, growing up in a house at 424 N. Caroline St., his jobs hawking newspapers and vegetables, and getting hired as a locker room attendant at Dunbar High School the old-fashioned way - through City Hall connections. In the span of just 15 years, with political acumen, charm and personal warmth, he ascended from that modest job to the city's highest office.

He got the nickname "Du" in the 1940s when he was knee-deep in local politics - always doing things for people. Among his many deeds was delivering votes for Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., the task that helped him land the locker room job.

[pepper]

He was called "Du" because he did.
-----------------------
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features...,7019554.story

Clarence H. Du Burns
First black mayor of Baltimore
1918 - 2003

Clarence H. Du Burns, a self-made politician who rose through grass-roots involvement in his native East Baltimore to become the city's first African-American mayor.

Throughout his career, Mr. Burns never let the public forget his humble beginnings, growing up in a house at 424 N. Caroline St., his jobs hawking newspapers and vegetables, and getting hired as a locker room attendant at Dunbar High School the old-fashioned way - through City Hall connections. In the span of just 15 years, with political acumen, charm and personal warmth, he ascended from that modest job to the city's highest office.

He got the nickname "Du" in the 1940s when he was knee-deep in local politics - always doing things for people. Among his many deeds was delivering votes for Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., the task that helped him land the locker room job.

Why is the nickname "Du" and not "Do"?

[Dryfire]

I can only imagine the conniptions in about 20 years or so when Barack Obama starts getting statues and the like...

Those statues will certainly need an overbuilt base. With ears like his, they would become top heavy real quick.

[MDvet]

Baltimore City has three monuments to Christopher Columbus.

http://www2.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=2492

Harbor East

Harford Road

Druid Hill Park

Lots of white people have statues and monuments in Baltimore City.

YB is partially correct

...and Christopher Columbus was the first WHITE man to set foot on this continent. Where's the statue for him? Neil Armstrong was the first WHITE man to set foot on the moon. Where's his statue? Where's the statues for all the white people from Baltimore who were first in anything?

Yes there are statues of Columbus in Baltimore

From the link you provided, I didn't see a statue of Armstrong. Appears that most statues not for being first at something.

[yuca]

Appears that most statues not for being first at something.

Statues should be made for those people who actually accomplished something in their lives. Du Burns didn't really accomplish all that much (his Wikipedia page is very telling). He couldn't even get himself elected as mayor. We might as well make statues of all the past city council presidents.

As for Obama, he deserves to have statues made of him. Eventually.