March 2, 2026
Honorable Mayor Kate Colin and City Council members
City of San Rafael
1400 Fifth Ave
San Rafael, CA via email: [email protected] RE: Agenda item #3.c. Mid-Year Updates to Strategic Plan, Objective A.3.1 Public Art Projects On February 2, 2026, at a regular City Council meeting, council members heard the proposal for the installation of five public art pieces, including a large lighted metal structure called “Touch the Sky” resembling a mythological creature, called a Harpy, to be installed at the 2nd and 4th Street redesigned intersection.
I live in the West End neighborhood within walking distance of this intersection and the first I heard of the installation of an art piece at this intersection was while watching the live city council meeting via ZOOM on February 2nd. Unfortunately, the City still does not allow public comments via ZOOM so I was unable to comment about the project at that time.
Surprised to learn of the selection of this particular art piece for this intersection, I reached out to neighbors for their feedback and received the following comments:
"I think the angel is unfortunate; it's sort of kitschy and weird, and thematically, it makes no sense on that site.
Maybe it represents all the people who were killed crossing streets in San Rafael?" "The proposed "statue" is just another example of needless alterations being made without any input from the people who will have to look at it day after day. It's gaudy!" "As for the proposed sculpture, my impression is, "creepy", not to mention irrelevant to anything!" "The sculpture definitely belongs elsewhere."
"The angel figure is pretty but doesn't belong there".
"This is the first I have heard about it. I wish I had seen the displays." I subsequently reached out to Sage Loring of Local Edition and asked if anyone from the West End Neighborhood had been contacted besides Pond Farm about the proposal. He provided a link to the City’s Public Art Policy.
According to the City of San Rafael Public Art Review Guidelines, under Community Engagement on page 5, it states:
For long-term projects (installation planned for more than one(1) year) a minimum of three (3) letters of support are recommended. It goes on to say that it is recommended that one of the letters of support be from the local HOA or neighborhood association.
For the metal sculpture “Touch the Sky” only 2 letters of support were included in the council packet, one from Pond Farm and the other letter from Mary Sackett, a county supervisor who I believe lives in Terra Linda. While the letter from Pond Farm seems appropriate, the letter from Mary Sacket seems pretty far removed from the neighborhood. Why wasn’t the West End Neighborhood Association contacted for the 3rd letter, as recommended? Per the City’s own guidelines, a minimum of 3 letters of support was required for the metal sculpture, whose placement is permanent. Why weren’t 3 letters obtained, as required, and why wasn’t the West End Neighborhood Association contacted for a written letter of support?
I contacted Craig Veramay who apologized that their outreach didn’t reach the West End Neighborhood Association “directly” but said they sent a survey to a representative of the West End Neighborhood Association but couldn’t say who that was. He later said that the project team shared information about the proposal with representatives of the West End Neighborhood Association as part of the public notification process but didn’t have a detailed log of who was notified.
Craig also noted that Daniel Alm, the President of the West End Neighborhood Association, provided comments at the City Council meeting on February 2nd. Daniel Alm represented to me that the city council meeting on February 2nd was “truly” the first time he learned about this art project.
I am baffled that neither Sage Loring nor Craig Veramay have any record of who was contacted at the West End Neighborhood Association about this project and why 3 letters of support weren’t obtained for the permanent installation of the metal sculpture, as required, making the approval of the sculpture questionable.
I suggest the City Council consider another location for the large metal “Harpy” sculpture or re-engage the community after the sculpture is temporarily placed at the San Rafael Community Center and the public can view the sculpture “in-person” and provide feedback on where the best permanent location would be.
Thank you for your consideration of my comments.
Victoria DeWitt
West End Neighborhood resident