Artist behind Uplift sculpture claims city is being swayed

that was supposed to inspire. but after the sculpture placed in a round- about on country club road was removed it has created a rift between the artist and the city. the artist also claims the city is just trying to appease some influential el pasoans who wanted the sculpture removed. ABC-7’s jerry najera is live with the story … rick estela artist magarita cabrera says the city told her they took the sculpture down because of structural issues and because the artwork deviated from the original design. cabrera telling us today she believes there’s other motives behind the move and feels the city hasn’t been amicable with how they are handling the situation. if you’ve been watching the news you know country club road was closed, rerouted and dug up. it all made way for a beautiful road -lined with trees, new lights and a round about with this sculpture. but almost as soon as it went up, the piece of artwork was brought down. ” feel absolutely disrespected i feel a lot of pain i feel very sad” margarita cabrera is the artist behind the sculpture called uplift. it represents a flock of birds in the moment they take flight. “this moment is symbolic of positive social change” cabrera says she was out of town when the city removed the sculpture the city telling her the piece was structurally unsound. another reason: “the city has als claimed that the incorporation of gun fragments was not approved” cabrera says th fragments of guns donated by sheriff wiles were part of the design all along. and that representatives from the city had seen the sculpture 3 times before it was put up at the roundabout. and cabrera says there’s another issue. “city representative confirm that the removal action was taken because there was an objection from someone in the country club neighborhood who made the call to have the piece removed” cabrera has sought legal counsel. she also says the city has paid her 85 percent of the cost for the sculpture which came with a price tag of about 70 thousand dollars. the city offered to pay her the rest of the money and that would make the sculpture property of the city and it could do whatever it wanted with the artwork. cabrera says it’s not about the money… “i would like th piece back in it place where it belongs” the has not been able to comment because of pending litigation. rick estela. a former juarez police chief was