QUINCY, MASS. (WHDH) - Dozens showed up to Monday’s City Council meeting in Quincy to share their support, or opposition, to the city’s plan to install two 10-foot-tall statues of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Florian outside the new public safety building.
The two figures are the patron saints of police officers and firefighters. The cost to taxpayers would be $850,000.
“Scales of the figures are prominent, not dominant,” said Christopher Walker, Quincy mayor’s chief of staff.
The Saint Michael the Archangel statue appears to show him standing on a demon, the Saint Florian statue shows him pouring water on a burning building.
The Mayor’s Chief of Staff argues the statues are not religious, but public art.
Not everyone is on board. The ACLU wrote a letter to the mayor, saying they have deep concerns about the statues and adding in part, “… Placing larger-than-life statues of Catholic saints in front of a public building unequivocally advances one religion to the exclusion of all others.”
People who live in town are split on the issue. Some argue its a symbol of good over evil, while others disagree.
“The cost, the religious aspects, the separation of church and state, those are all very important elements, but the thing that nobody is talking about, have you seen the statue? It’s frightening. This is a public safety building,” said Gerry McKay, who is against the statues.
“They’re two 10 foot bronze statues costing us the Quincy property taxpayers $850,000 and it’ll probably escalate,” said another meeting attendee.
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