West Sacramento "Lighthouse" art project canceled over lead paint concerns
A sky-high public art plan is now crashing down in West Sacramento.
CBS Sacramento first reported in 2022 that the city approved funding for a new sculpture atop the decommissioned radio tower along the Riverwalk.
The public art piece is called "Lighthouse." Artist Tamara Johnson described what it would look like.
"It will appear as though a small house has lifted off of its foundation and risen to the top of the tower," Johnson said. "At night, the horizontal rungs of the tower and the house itself will glow."
Since then, she's been working on designing and building the structure. But last month, West Sacramento city officials suddenly canceled her contract, and now the partially built artwork has been destroyed.
Charles Roher lives in the neighborhood and saw crews tearing apart the metal sculpture last week. He was looking forward to seeing the new artwork installed.
"I just thought the day was going to come when they came with a giant crane and we got to watch it rise to the top, but that never came," he said.
Why is West Sacramento abandoning the "Lighthouse" public art sculpture?
It turns out there's trouble with the old tower.
City officials issued a statement, saying:
"The tower contains lead-based paint. Although some remediation was anticipated as part of the structural retrofit efforts, the scope of the work turned out to be more extensive and costly than expected."
The city paid the artist more than $300,000 for the sculpture that's now been scrapped.
"That's unfortunate. I mean, it's money that could have gone towards some sort of other art project," Roher said.
Today, this would-be "Lighthouse" remains fenced off and surrounded by overgrown weeds instead of a bright new public gathering spot.
A public park, which was going to be built around the tower, has also been canceled due to the lead paint concerns.
