Sculpture not worthy

For years the city leadership has continued its obsession with downtown Little Rock. Now it has traded a piece of land sitting under a parking deck for a hunk of metal some see as “art.”

This reminds me of how some colonists traded a bunch of trinkets and trash to the Indians for a nice piece of land in New York.

Few residents of Little Rock can see the value of this piece of metal. It obstructed the intersection of Capitol and Main for years. Even the pigeons didn’t appreciate it then, and probably still don’t.

I know, in seven years we’d get this hunk of metal and the parking deck. So why am I concerned about this?

It’s just another example of how our city leaders go out of their way to prop up downtown Little Rock and those who do business there. We will never have an effective city government as long as the focus is concentrated on a few square blocks of downtown real estate.

Alice Walton can afford $5 million art, but Little Rock should be able to find better uses for our money. DON SHELLABARGER Little Rock