The head on one of Sarasota’s popular and recognizable set of statues at St. Armands Circle is missing.
As the city began planning out how to repair the statue and others like it, staff with the Public Works Department ran into some complex challenges. The statues, which adorn St Armands Circle, are among 21 statues gifted to the City of Sarasota in 2008 by the St. Armands Association.
The gift at that time came with a five-year maintenance allowance which had been exhausted and had long expired. This meant that a $12,000 repair cost presented to the city through a bid is not in any part of the city’s budget and would have to come from somewhere else.
A city spokesperson said staff hopes to team up with the community to help out with ways to generate funds to effect repairs as soon as possible.
The city says it’ll work with the St. Armands Business Improvement District and community groups to preserve and repair the statues. The repair plan could also include repositioning the statues.
Sarasota police said there were no known witnesses to the incident nor were there any security cameras in the vicinity that captured what happened. Because of that, they have been unable to identify any suspects in order to make an arrest connected to the vandalism of the statue.
