Rendering of "These Truths," the public art installation that the Cultural Council halted last year. | Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
Published on March 13, 2026 at 3:48 pm
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City leaders could soon consider repurposing the remaining money that was earmarked for a stalled public art project planned for the Duval County Courthouse.
City Council member and Duval DOGE Committee Chair Ron Salem tells Jacksonville Today he’s working on legislation to reappropriate the project’s remaining budget and is in talks with Circuit Court Judge Lance Day on what Day sees as the best use for the money.
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The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville told DOGE Committee members March 3 that, since the project was halted last year, there’s about $387,000 remaining of the $728,611 city council approved for the public art project in 2016.
‘These Truths’ stalled since August
City leaders had been planning for a signature public art piece on the 3-acre courthouse lawn since the building was completed in 2012. It took four years for city lawmakers to authorize the art project’s budget. And another seven years passed before the city selected Venice, California-based Cliff Garten Studio in 2021 to design and build the sculpture.
The artwork also faced delays amid COVID-19-related cost spikes and over the content of its messaging. In June 2023, an art selection panel approved the third draft of the text that would adorn giant metal scrolls on the sculpture, including changing the word “equity” to “truth.”
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The city has already paid the artist $315,000 for design and engineering work.
“We paid the artist $300,000. We’re not getting that back,” DOGE Committee member Raul Aris said at the March 3 meeting. “We lost $300,000 because there was some sort of communication mishap between the judge at the time (and) you all, the (Cultural) Council.”
In early August 2025, after more than a decade of discussion and work, leadership at the Culture Council said they felt good about the design for the stainless steel sculpture titled These Truths, Voice of Jacksonville and expected imminent final OKs from two council committees.
But Day raised concerns during an Aug. 14 City Council Finance Committee budget hearing about the potential for vandalism of the sculpture and the “overall practicality” of the project’s cost, with tight budgets projected in coming years.
Day said at the time he wants to use some of the money for security at the courthouse, installing bollards to prevent vehicles from driving on the lawn or crashing into the building and people.
“The point is, is it unreasonable to think that if you put a $600,000 to $800,000 art project out on the front lawn, that it isn’t going to be graffitied. It will be. It will be vandalized. And then, as chief judge, I’m going to be sitting there saying, ‘What do we do?'” he said. “… I’ve got to get the jurors in so they’re not influenced. I’ve got to make sure that the public response is appropriate for this. What I’m pointing out is there’s a certain place for your public art, a courthouse may not be that place.”
The chief judge said his concerns are not a criticism of Garten’s work, whom Day says he’s never met.
“I recognize that this is a very popular item, but frankly it’s an item that should be paused, should be shelved and should be restudied,” Day said during the August budget hearing.
Kat Wright, the Cultural Council’s director of public art, told Jacksonville Today in an email, “The City Council Finance Committee asked for the project to be paused, so the August Artwork Selection Panel meeting to review the final design was postponed and is still on hold.”
The Cultural Counsel’s decision to pause the project was met with concern by local authors who had contributed to the project.
And Jacksonville Today obtained emails between Garten and the Cultural Council at the time showing the artist’s frustrations with the delay and with the late-stage input from the judge.
“Why would we be discussing these issues again after a two-year or more approval process?” Garten asked Wright last spring.
Alternate spending plans
Wright told the DOGE committee the Cultural Council has not sought reimbursement for $72,000 in administrative fees, and there is also $39,000 unused set aside for maintenance of the art piece.
That could leave more than $420,000 in unspent funds, which, according to the Council Auditor’s Office, local lawmakers could release for other purposes if they pass new legislation.
Phillip Peterson, assistant city council auditor, said in an email to Jacksonville Today that contracted outside legal counsel determined the project’s remaining budget balance could be repurposed elsewhere at the courthouse, specifically.
Salem did not provide a timeframe on Friday as to when he could introduce the bill suggesting a new use for the funds.
