Park plan draws artist’s anger

More than a decade ago, a metal sculpture of a cherubic girl blowing bubbles was a centerpiece of Mac Dutra Park in downtown Half Moon Bay. Residents had mixed feelings about the statue. Some folks reportedly didn’t like that the metal girl’s underpants were visible under her skirt.

Then one day, the bubble-girl sculpture disappeared, recalls Montara artist Sue Prichard. She says no one really knows what happened, but apparently someone ripped it out in the middle of the night. Since then, the spot where the sculpture stood has remained empty.

Today Prichard is worried that another art fixture of Mac Dutra Park could similarly vanish. In 2001, Prichard solicited grants and led a community art project to install mosaics along the masonry around the park. Now she fears those mosaics and what she feels is the charm of Mac Dutra could be swept away as part of a city initiative to redesign Mac Dutra Park.

“I think our artwork will disappear one night just like the bubble-girl statue,” she said. “They want to make our park look like Walnut Creek.”

No specific plans have been approved to modify Mac Dutra Park, but city officials have been eyeing a redesign of the small downtown square at the corner of Main Street and Kelly Avenue for the last year. Acknowledging the park has languished in recent years, local leaders signaled they would spend about $200,000 on improving the park. More money for Mac Dutra could also come from the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee, which last year took over stewardship as part of the city’s Adopt-a-Park program.

Working on a pro-bono basis, local landscape architects at Kikuchi and Associates last year drafted concept drawings that illustrated removing the concrete planter boxes as a way to open up the park to the street. The sketches envisioned turning Mac Dutra into more of a performance spot with a new stage, seating, lighting and possibly wireless Internet.

As the drawings circulated, they sparked a fierce reaction from Prichard and others who participated in her mosaic project.

The mosaics cover much of the masonry at Mac Dutra. Prichard says the artwork took about two years to complete, and, over that period, she believes hundreds of people helped lend a hand. Touring the park, she points out the individual tile designs of butterflies, cats and dogs. Many pieces were designed by local children and families, and they each have a story to tell, she said.

When the artwork was completed years ago, Prichard received a letter from the city thanking her for her work. In the years since then, she believes the city failed to maintain the park and let it deteriorate.

Facing a budget imbalance, Half Moon Bay dissolved its Parks and Recreation Department in 2011, and the city has looked to outside groups to maintain its parks. In 2012, the city closed down a children’s playground at Ocean View Park after a safety inspector deemed it unsafe. The Coastside Mothers’ Club later spearheaded an effort to rebuild the playground.

City workers last year removed a row of picnic tables at Mac Dutra Park after finding evidence of rust. Public Works employees reportedly decided to hold off on replacing the tables after hearing the park would be redesigned.

Speaking last week, Mayor John Muller emphasized that no decisions have been made on Mac Dutra. He believed an agreement could be reached to preserve the mosaics, perhaps by relocating them to another park.

Alas, just like the aged Cypress tree that once welcomed folks driving west on Hwy 92 at the entrance to Half Moon Bay, becoming with outstretched limbs, the one-time cheerful and cozy MacDutra Park has gone the way of all things unique and artistic, and has been replaced by a cold, soulless expanse, a slab -nothing more, of unwelcoming urban concrete. Thanks to John Mueller, Marina Frazer and Rick Kowalczyk!

"Some folks reportedly didn’t like that the metal girl’s underpants were visible under her skirt....." Find those folks and you will find the statue.

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