- Residents of a California town are pushing officials to remove a "phallic" rock sculpture, per KSBW.
- The sculpture's artist said he was inspired by California's Pinnacles National Monument.
Some residents in a California town are calling for county officials to remove a longtime sculpture they believe oddly resembles a "phallic symbol."
Richard Deutsch, the artist who created the sculpture that has stood in front of the San Benito County administrative building for 30 years, said that he was inspired by the Pinnacles National Monument, which is in the Salinas Valley region of California, according to KSBW.
"What I did was I chose some of the formations as being the center point for the project in front of your county building," Deutsch said according to the outlet.
Elia Salinas, one of the residents calling for the sculpture's removal, said that some women who work in the county building are offended by the imagery of the sculpture, KSBW reported.
"The women in this building feel uncomfortable," Salinas told the outlet. "Not all, apparently, but there are some women who feel uncomfortable to walk into thie building and having this phallic symbol."
San Benito County supervisors clashed at a board of supervisors meeting on Tuesday over the issue, with most women on the panel in favor of looking into whether the sculpture should have a place in front of the building.
"I just don't know that, in front of our county building, this statue makes much sense," Mindy Sotelo, a member of the county's board of supervisors said at a board meeting on Wednesday. "I think, some ways, it's a bit tasteless."
Another county supervisor, Dom Zanger, argued that "not every piece is going to be universally understood the same way and liked by everyone, and that's ok."
The board of supervisors voted 3-2 to create a committee to look further into whether or not the sculpture should be removed from the front of the building.