DRAPER, Utah (KUTV) — Reaction is pouring in about a proposal for a 300-foot statue at the Point of the Mountain in Draper.
KUTV 2News broke the story this week that officials leading the development of the old prison site are considering building what’s called a “Statue of Responsibility.”
The statue is envisioned as a supplement to the east coast’s Statue of Liberty. Efforts to build it in California have failed, so now the group pushing it wants to try constructing it in Utah, somewhere on a 600-acre area known as The Point.
The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority voted unanimously on Tuesday to take the first step toward possibly building the statue by formally evaluating the proposal.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Jillian Lewis, who hadn’t heard about the statue before KUTV 2News showed her a photo of it.
Her best friend, Aliya Foote, agreed while adding, “I think it’s massive. I don’t know why it needs to be that big.”
Rep. Jordan Teuscher (R-South Jordan), who co-chairs the board overseeing development of The Point, is a strong supporter of building the statue in Utah.
“I love it,” Teuscher told KUTV 2News in an interview Wednesday overlooking the old prison site in Draper. “It’s important for us to balance those principles of liberty and responsibility. Together they equal freedom.”
But Sen. Nate Blouin (D-Millcreek) is not a fan.
“I think that the design that we saw is gaudy,” Blouin said, adding that he feels the statue is “just being railroaded through the process.”
The senator also said he has issues with the proposed location for a companion to the Statue of Liberty.
“That’s a beacon of freedom to the world. That’s where millions of immigrants came through, and we’re talking about a statue built on a former prison site?” said Blouin. “I think there is something significant about that that just totally misses the mark.”
Blouin added he thinks getting The Point built first is more important. He also worries about getting public input, which Teuscher said will happen during the evaluation.
“It will be a public, open, transparent process where we’ll get a lot of public feedback,” said Teuscher.
One big question is the cost. Blouin said he’s concerned about using taxpayer resources on it, but Teuscher pointed out the statue would be totally paid for privately, and only the land for it would come from the state.
Art tends to evoke strong feelings, as evidenced by some of the feedback on social media to the statue proposal so far. One user on X, formerly Twitter, called it “hideous and too big,” while a Reddit user said the statue’s “message of lending a helping hand looks to be a positive one.”
As for Lewis and Foote – who both grew up in Draper – the big idea seemed to grow on them the more they thought about it.
“We vote yes,” Lewis said, laughing. “It’s cool.”
The evaluation process for the “Statue of Responsibility” is expected to last at least several months.
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