$100,000 Tumbleweed

Chandler, Arizona

The $100,000 Tumbleweed, which is actually a metal sculpture by artist Joan Waters entitled Momentum, was controversial even before it was installed in January 2009 at a Chandler park-and-ride lot. The city council came under criticism for voting to spend so much taxpayer money ... and for so little. Including the base, the sculpture is only ten feet tall; the tumbleweed itself is only two or three feet in diameter. Technically, the tumbleweed is only part of an installation of three works entitled Movimiento del Viento; for their $100,000 the taxpayers also got the cast concrete wall surrounding the tumbleweed pedestal, and the nearby Shadow Curtain sculptures (a.k.a. a fence to keep people from walking in front of the buses). Former Councilman Martin Sepulveda, who did not participate in the vote, captured the bizarre aspect of the whole affair when he said "I don't want to sound like a jerk, but only in planet Chandler do we put tumbleweeds on pedestals."

The Tumbleweed sculpture is not to be confused with Chandler's Tumbleweed Tree, which is made out of real tumbleweeds and is temporarily installed each Christmas season.

Directions: At the park-and-ride lot on the southwest corner of Germann Road and Hamilton Street, just west of Tumbleweed Park.

Last visited: November 2009.

Standard disclaimer: Sites are described for entertainment purposes only, as they were at the time of my last visit. I can not vouch for the current condition of the site or its accessibility.