Residents have beef with Markham cow sculpture on stilts

YorkRegion.com
July 26, 2017
Tim Kelly

Residents of a west Markham neighbourhood want a towering cow sculpture installed 10 days ago by the city to just moooove on.

The unhappy people gathered Tuesday night to give local councillor Alan Ho, who voted last year to approve the chrome statue, a piece of their collective mind.

Ho was in huge backtrack mode as resident after resident slammed him for supporting the statue in a large parkette on Charity Crescent in the Cathedraltown neighbourhood. He urged them to gather a petition opposing the artwork and to head to council at its first meeting this September to tell elected officials exactly what they think.

The cow, called Charity, Perpetuation of Perfection, was apparently a prize-winning milker for the donor and the statue is dubbed "Brookview Tony Charity."

Under intense questioning from residents at the site of the statue, Ho admitted the donation of the statue was valued at $1.2 million.

But he insisted the donation cost the City of Markham and taxpayers nothing.

Residents were "udderly" unimpressed.

Tammy Armes, a member of the Cathedraltown Ratepayers Association, said the sculpture caught everyone by surprise.

"This is really a shock for us; it's not a small cow. It does not belong in this community," Armes said.

Danny Da Silva, who lives right in the sightline of the sculpture, was blunt in his assessment of it: "I hate it. I don't like to be forced to look at this, but I have to unless I don't want to come out of my house anymore.

“I think it's actually kind of disturbing looking. I come from a Christian background and this is actually one of the worst things you can do, is to raise a calf; it's facing the Cathedral. Who's going to want to buy the house, there's very little to admire," he added.

Da Silva suggested it be moved to an alternate location, like the carousel in downtown Markham.

Ho said he believed the statue belonged in an alternative location but that the donor insisted on the current location and council agreed. He said if the statue does get moved it’s not clear whether the donor or the city will have to pay the cost.