BELFAST - The thought of adding seats and lighting to the footbridge (a.k.a. Armistice Bridge) brought an angry contingent of veterans to City Hall last month. When the topic came up again on Dec. 18, the tone had mellowed but some disagreements remained about what amenities the bridge should have, if any.

"First of all, we're not angry," said Friends of the Bridge organizer Tammy Lacher Scully, who, along with American Legion Commander Tim Parker, spoke on behalf of a newly-formed coalition of veterans' organizations and bridge advocates called the Armistice Group. 

Lacher Scully said the coalition has no problem with temporary uses of the bridge, for seasonal lighting, fishing, shooting off fireworks or other recreational or celebratory events, but remains concerned about any permanent installations.

Last month, the downtown business group Our Town Belfast asked for city support in the initial stages of a grant application to fund the seasonal public-art-as-seating exhibition Please Be Seated and install permanent artist-designed seating and an LED lighting display on the footbridge.

Representatives of OTB said at the time that the two ideas were combined to flesh out the grant application but were unrelated.

Both, however, involved artist-designed seating, and while OTB had neither applied for the grant nor drafted specific plans, the broad strokes of the proposal set imaginations running wild. Some loved the idea, others were offended and as comments on Tuesday night suggested, many were just confused.

The strongest opposition came from veterans, who submitted a petition urging the city not to make any changes to the bridge in light of its status as a war memorial.

The former automobile crossing was named Veterans Memorial Bridge when it was built in 1921. The name was transferred to the larger bridge built along with the bypass in the 1960s. The old crossing was completely reconstructed almost a decade ago as a footbridge and rededicated in 2010 as Armistice Bridge.

Lacher Scully, who was instrumental in the reconstruction effort and the rededication, acknowledged that OTB's proposal was preliminary but said two key elements concerned her and other members of the Armistice Group.  "It sounded to us like the goal was to make Armistice Bridge more of a place to congregate, which would conflict with our goal of preserving it as an uncongested bike and pedestrian crossing," she said. "It also sounded like it might include arty design and lighting elements that might detract from its current traditional character as a historical re-creation and war memorial." Armistice Group members who originally petitioned for no changes to the bridge had warmed to the idea of installing some seating, Lacher Scully told the Council. To that end, she asked the city to approved the addition of eight precast concrete benches and install them in recessed areas along the bridge and in front of the commemorative plaque and contribute $5,000 to buying the benches with the rest to be raised by the Armistice Group. Councilor Mike Hurley took issue with a number of things Lacher Scully said, including her claim that the Armistice Group members weren't angry. Since the last meeting he'd heard lot from members of the public including a conversation that included "a pile of f-words," he said, one of which was "flatlanders." The conversation, he said, "was not about a war memorial. It was about flatlanders shoving art in people's faces." Parker apologized to Hurley for comments by members of veterans groups. "I'm not angry," he said, noting that of the roughly 400 members of the American Legion, counting auxillary members and Sons of the American Legion, 12 voted on the current proposal. "I can't control all of these members," he said. "I don't know who it was who talked to you, but I'll apologize to you publicly right now, from the veterans' group. That's not where we are." Hurley continued, saying that he had been involved with the efforts to reconstruct the bridge and recalled very little discussion of it being a war memorial.
"So, to all of a sudden come out of left field because someone said they want to put benches and lights on it, and have this revolution show up that 'It's a war memorial. You can't do that,' that came as very late notice to me," he said. Lacher Scully disagreed, saying the war memorial aspect was part of every public discussion of the bridge reconstruction. Hurley next set his sights on the benches, objecting to the Armistice Group's about-face from not wanting benches at all to insisting on benches of a certain style, which he panned enthusiastically, saying he wouldn't accept them as a gift. Lacher Scully said the style was chosen to match the design of the bridge. Several councilors saw them as likely to be uncomfortable. Councilor Roger Lee suggested the Armistice Group research what kind of public seating existed in Belfast in 1921 and consider replicating those designs. Lee said he was sympathetic to the group's concerns but didn't think it would be appropriate to vote on the proposal before hearing from others, including allowing time for Our Town Belfast to follow through on its grant application. Other councilors said the initial proposal from Our Town Belfast brought to mind images of playful sculpture seats like those in Please Be Seated being added to the footbridge. Councilor Eric Sanders said he imagined the tree root bench that was in front of Alexia's Pizza being put somewhere on the bridge — which he said he would not have supported — and could imagine how others might have come away with a similar impression. "I wasn't imagining envisioning the tree," said Councilor Nancy Hamilton. "I was envsioning the one with the lobster buoys." Hamilton defended the veterans and others who have spoken their minds at Council meetings, responding to an earlier comment by Hurley that Council meetings had started to feel like "the angry mob of the week club." "I never thought you all were angry," she said to Lacher Scully and Parker. "I thought that people were wanting to make their views known, and democracy is messy. Mike may not realize this but sometimes people do raise their voices." Hurley said he did know. "I have a lot of really honest conversations with people," he said later, responding to another apology from Parker regarding the veteran who had confronted him. "It was just an honest conversation and I wouldn't want somebody to hold back, but on the other hand it didn't make my day." Speaking during a public comment period at the end of the meeting, Breanna Pinkham Bebb, executive director of Our Town Belfast attempted to clarify the difference between the two aspects of the original proposal. "Just because an artisan is hired to do something doesn't mean it can't be historically accurate to the bridge now," she said. "It doesn't have to be one way or another." To reach Ethan Andrews, send an email to news@penbaypilot.com