Public Arts Commission to weigh Village Green relocation for Bogert statue

The Palm Springs Public Arts Commission will consider a proposal Thursday to relocate the statue of former Mayor Frank Bogert to the city’s downtown Village Green, reopening a long-running debate over the monument’s future following its removal from City Hall in 2022.

The request comes from the Palm Springs Historical Society, which has asked the commission to review and consider relocating the bronze statue—created by Mexican sculptor Raymundo Cobo Reyes — to the Village Green adjacent to the society’s museums.

In a letter to the commission, Historical Society President Tracy Conrad said the organization would take on full responsibility for the move if approved.

“The Historical Society would be honored to assume full responsibility, including financial, for the statue’s transport, installation, and ongoing maintenance at the site,” Conrad wrote, calling the Village Green “a fitting and publicly accessible setting that aligns with the Historical Society’s mission to preserve and interpret Palm Springs’ unique history.”

The statue, which depicts Bogert mounted on a horse, was installed on the lawn in front of Palm Springs City Hall in 1990 after being donated to the city by a group of residents. The City Council formally accepted the artwork by ordinance, placing it under the stewardship of the Public Arts Commission as part of the city’s public art collection.

More than three decades later, the statue was removed from City Hall in 2022 following a controversial city Human Rights Commission report that linked Bogert to the displacement of Section 14 residents in the late 1960s. That report was never formerly accepted by the City Council, which last year approved a settlement with former Section 14 residents and their descendants as part of a broader reparations effort.

City officials have said since the statue’s removal that relocation — rather than permanent storage — was always the intended outcome. In internal correspondence included in the commission’s agenda packet, Public Arts Commission Chair Gary Armstrong noted that the city publicly committed to finding a new location for the piece.

“Eventual relocation was always the City’s publicly stated intent,” Armstrong wrote, referencing City Council actions and statements made at the time of the statue’s removal.

The issue returned to the forefront last fall after then-Mayor Ron deHarte asked the City Council to begin moving forward on a promise made years earlier to identify a new public location for the statue. Council members directed staff to involve the Public Arts Commission, which oversees the city’s public art collection.

Located at 221 South Palm Canyon Drive, the Village Green includes several historic buildings, including the McCallum Adobe, Ruddy’s General Store Museum, the Cornelia White House and the Palm Springs Historical Society’s Oasis Museum.

The statue remains in city storage while officials consider next steps. The commission is scheduled to discuss the proposal during its 5:30 p.m. meeting Thursday at Palm Springs City Hall.

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