UPDATE: Click on the images below to see exactly where the damage has occured on the signs.
Vulcan. I affectionately refer to him here as “The Big Guy atop Red Mountain.” It is hard to think of any modern event covered in Birmingham, Alabama without thinking of the money shot many refuse to leave without, that of the god of fire and forging as he overlooks Jones Valley. The scary thing is, recently there have been bad things going on at the base of the statue.
Considering the fact that I did not see this tagging going on during the holiday season, I can only assume that it’s occurred in past couple of weeks. These interpretive signs that describe the view from the park overlook are not the only victims of area vandals. Picnic tables that are located throughout Vulcan’s current home (he moved there in 1936 and it was recently restored, the project completed in 2004) have also been “tagged” by some that probably don’t care about the significance of the world’s largest cast iron statue.
A common theme at Friday’s state of the region luncheon was “as goes [insert name of city here], goes the region.” Perhaps as we prepare to hold our elected officials accountable for the image of our city, perhaps we need to hold each other accountable for the image as well. At what point does it become your problem? Hopefully sooner rather than later. Especially as The Big Guy gets renewed national interest and in so doing, so does Birmingham, Alabama and the rest of the region.
Let me know what you think?
Cheers.
