PS Arts Commission to decide future of controversial Frank Bogert statue 

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) - A controversial statue of former Palm Springs mayor, Frank Bogert, could have a new home this year. 

The statue was removed from Palm Springs City Hall in 2022 after a recommendation from the Human Rights Commission in 2021, as the city reckoned with the mayor's alleged role in evicting Section 14 victims from a plot of land owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

This Thursday, the Public Arts Commission will consider rehoming the statue at the Village Green in the Palm Springs Historical Society, where several chairpersons have requested it be placed permanently.

Section 14 survivors have argued against the relocation, saying Bogert's statue glorifies a painful part of their history.

"How does a mayor oversee a city without having some type of input on burning down a community?
The harm was devastating. Reinstalling the statue sends a very painful message that our suffering is secondary to nostalgia," Pearl Devers, the president of Section 14 Survivors and Descendants said.

Not all agree however. Gordon and Stacey Winn, Palm Springs residents, say they believe the former mayor's legacy should be honored.

"I saw that his star is here, so it's really appropriate. It's a good place for him. I mean, I know people have mixed feelings, but he's an important part of our history," they said.

The Friends of Frank Bogert have also supported the relocation, while refuting claims that Bogert played a role in Section 14's mass displacement. The group believes Bogert worked with leaders in the Black community to find alternative homes and place eviction moratoriums.

Former Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton oversaw the statue debate and recommended it be placed at the Village Green.

"When you look here at, the Village Green and the historical society, the buildings and the history that we have going back no a hundred years for us in Palm Springs, that focus on that history is right here," Middleton said.

Survivors disagree, with Devers saying they have no objections to placing the statue in a museum with context, but it doesn't belong in the public eye.

The Public Arts Commission is slated to decide the future of the statue Thursday at 5:30 p.m.