George,

Although I have been involved with the First Amendment Monument project since its inception, I was nonetheless surprised that Tuesday's edition of the Daily Progress singled out the monument as the reason for delays "on a bevy of improvements being made to the [east end of the downtown mall]." Not only was this the first time I had heard this claim, it was contrary to my understanding of the facts. In an effort to determine if construction of the monument indeed was the sole cause of any delays, I spoke with City officials and representatives of the construction company responsible for the pedestrian mall extension. Everyone I spoke with said it was incorrect to single out the First Amendment Monument as the sole cause, or even the primary cause, for delays in the project as a whole.

My concern is that people will mistakenly infer from the Daily Progress article that the First Amendment Monument is delaying not only the extension of the pedestrian mall, but also the renovation of the amphitheater. In fact, although the extension of the mall and the renovation of the amphitheater obviously complement one another, the two are actually separate projects undertaken by two different construction companies. R. E. Lee & Son is responsible for the pedestrian mall extension, not the amphitheater construction. The monument is but one element of the mall extension and will be located in the area of the extension furthest away from the amphitheater. Thus, the monument should not impact the amphitheater construction in any way. Moreover, R. E. Lee & Son remains committed to substantially completing the pedestrian mall extension by the end of July. Completion of the First Amendment Monument will follow in the Fall as planned, thanks to the hard work of R. E. Lee & Son, the City's project managers, and the monument's architects Pete O'Shea and Robert Winstead.

Josh Wheeler (electronic mail June 10, 2005)