Mayor White Footprint Intact: One of the two not stolen. Photo by Gin Dumcius
Mayor White Footprint Missing: Photo by Gin DumciusSix of the nine metal footprints leading up to a 10-foot bronze statue of former Mayor Kevin White were stolen sometime over the weekend, the city’s manager of public property said Thursday. Another footprint was stolen several months ago, bringing the total to seven.
“It was a real tribute to him and it’s unfortunate that somebody has marred that,” said Michael Galvin, chief of public property for the city, recalling with fondness the 2006 ceremony in which the statue and the footprints were unveiled.
White served four terms as mayor, from 1968 to 1983.
Police reports put the theft of six footprints as occurring sometime between 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10 and 8 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 13, Galvin said.
“I hope whatever Scrooge has them does the right thing and returns them to Faneuil Hall,” District 6 City Councillor Matt O’Malley told the Reporter on Wednesday evening, after a tip came in that the footprints were missing.
A municipal police officer as well as Faneuil Hall’s building manager noticed the missing footprints on Monday morning, according to Galvin.
Galvin said his department is reaching out to the statue’s sculptor, Gloucester artist Pablo Eduardo, to see what the replacement costs are. They are also reaching to the group of White supporters that raised the money for the statue.
“It’s unfortunate they were stolen and they are worth some amount of money to someone, and we have to look at how we replace it,” Galvin said.
There have been past attempts to steal metal art installations. Various ducklings from the “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture in the Public Garden have been stolen over the years.
As the Boston Globe noted after “Pack” was stolen in 2009, “Police are investigating whether the culprit took the sculpture with plans to sell it as scrap metal, an increasing occurrence as bronze has become a valuable commodity in the hot market for metals.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated on 12/16/2010 at 5:15 p.m.
