Four designs unveiled for veterans memorial

Four proposed designs for a veterans memorial in Huntridge Circle Park were unveiled Wednesday, and scale models will be available for public viewing over the next month.

They take varying approaches.

One features statues of modern American soldiers in combat surrounded by figures representing veterans from the Revolutionary and other wars.

Another has figures wrapped in an American flag and dog tags.

One features a gold eagle atop a tower that sits on a raised star inside a pentagon.

Still another calls to mind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., with extensive earthworks, landscaping and lots of trees for shade.

Wednesday's unveiling marked the culmination of years of effort and provided some hope for the 3-acre park, which has been closed since 2006 because of conflicts over homeless people who gathered there.

The nonprofit Las Vegas Veterans Memorial group received more than 200 proposals, which were culled to 35 before the final four were chosen.

A five-member committee made up of two representatives of that group and one representative each from the Las Vegas Arts Commission and the neighborhood and veterans groups will pick the winning design in mid-August.

Las Vegas Veterans Memorial is raising money to pay for the memorial, which will be donated to the city.

Artists were asked to budget for $800,000, but the final cost probably will be around $1 million, said Michael Millett, a veteran who organized the memorial group last year.

The finalists are:

■ Joan Benefiel, whose proposal includes military sculptures surrounded by walkways and extensive turf. She created a memorial for Vietnam veterans in Long Island, N.Y.

■ Eugene Daub and Rob Firmin, who designed the eagle and tower proposal. They also made two military memorials for San Diego.

■ Cliff Garten, whose proposal has the extensive landscaping. He also designed a veterans memorial in Walnut Creek, Calif.

■ Douwe Blumberg, who visualized statues of American soldiers from various wars. He is the artist behind the New Jersey Fallen Soldiers Monument at Picatinny Arsenal.

Artists were asked to include security fence designs in their plans for the park, which is in the middle of Maryland Parkway just south of Charleston Boulevard.

It hasn't been determined if fencing will be installed, or whether the entire park will be enclosed or just the memorial area.

City officials closed the park after one homeless man stabbed another to death.

Area residents were already concerned about homeless people gathering there, saying the concentration of transients made them afraid to use the park.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@ reviewjournal.com or 229-6435.