The Eternal Ribbon
On Wednesday, April 7, 2010, workers from Ogletree Inc. installed the Eternal Ribbon, the centerpiece of Dublin’s new gateway feature. Funded completely with federal transportation dollars, the Eternal Ribbon is a twisting stainless steel arch that spans 100 feet wide and 22 feet high.
A modern twist on the traditional gateway arch, this design manifests constant motion combined with stability. When viewed from above, the Eternal Ribbon is the symbol for infinity. Inspired by the Moebius strip, a steel ribbon rises from two sweeping earth mounds. The arch’s seemingly fluid form changes dramatically when viewed from different angles along Dublin Boulevard and Dougherty Road, while its textured metal skin captures the changing light. The shape of this 22-foot-tall structure is reflected in the earth by a curved path cut into the mounds. The relationship between the rolling earth forms and graceful arch creates an infinity symbol-a resonant visual that speaks to the City’s rich history and bright future.
Estimated to be $580K, the funding for this gateway feature came from a $3.4M Federal Grant to the City of Dublin for its approval of high-density housing near the East and West Dublin BART stations. In addition to to this gateway feature, Dublin will be using the money to install new gateway markers and monument and directional signs along Dublin Boulevard. This funding provides another example of why cities like Dublin have approved high-density and affordable housing projects. The State and Federal money is simply too hard to pass up.
The original design called for tall and full trees; however, former mayor Janet Lockhart and other councilmembers directed City staff to ensure that the trees would not be blocking the view of Dublin Honda.
7:20 AM on April 8th, 2010
U-G-L-Y
7:32 AM on April 8th, 2010
I’m sure it looks nice, but what a colossal waste of money. I could think of 580,000 ways that this $580,000 could’ve been better spent.
8:47 AM on April 8th, 2010
Ribbon? i think Dublin is running a deficit…there has got to be higher priorities better ideas when it comes to spending money during these tuff financial times and city officials wonder why residents are opposed to hiking property taxes and higher city sales tax.
8:54 AM on April 8th, 2010
Its nice, but this really isn’t the right time to waste money on impulse, my god there are much more important issues to waste 500K+ on. We as residents should demand a transparent plan as to what the City has in mind when it comes to spending our tax dollars and a vote would be nice as well, meanwhile Dublin’s deficit grows…what’s wrong with this picture.
9:28 AM on April 8th, 2010
So bring in some undesirable element into our city with the affordable housing, which also brings down our own property values, and then make it up to us all with a half-million dollar metal ribbon structure! Woohoo! Totally worth it!!!
I know, affordable housing sounds like such a great thing, but in reality, it just seems like we have a new element of thugs running around the city now. No, that’s not a racist comment, I’d say the exact same thing if they were white trash or white gang members too.. There is one thug who seems to run around the overpass on Santa Rita/Tassajara. I saw him wandering the streets down by the Acura dealer, just wandering around… Seems to just be loitering around…But who cares, we have a New Metal ribbon! Yeehaw!
5:27 PM on April 8th, 2010
@Anonymous 9:28 AM on April 8th, 2010
“… it just seems like we have a new element of thugs running around the city now. No, that’s not a racist comment, I’d say the exact same thing if they were white trash or white gang members too..”
Yes, that is a racist comment. What you are saying that affordable housing is full of non-white thugs.
I’ve lived here for a long time, and Dublin has fine citizens, but if you want to look for the “thugs” they come in all shapes and colors and you can find them in non “affordable” neighborhoods as well.
PS – Do you even live in Dublin? Last I checked, the Acura dealer was in Pleasanton. Feel free to move back to your confederate state.
2:13 PM on April 9th, 2010
why dougherty? is that the gateway to the city now? would look nicer in a park.
8:01 PM on April 9th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – Dougherty Road and Dublin Boulevard is the busiest intersection in Dublin. I believe that the City wanted to place the artwork at this intersection because of the visibility and availability of land.
Thx, John Z.
9:35 AM on April 8th, 2010
I actually do like the ribbon and although i typically hate publicly funded “art” I think this is pretty cool looking… I know it’s hard to gauge what the economy will be like when it’s voted on so I don’t even blame the government for spending money on this.. What I do blame them for is what this cost… I’m sorry but $580,000? Material costs for this are probably under $100k by far.. I’d love to have anyone in the metal fabrication business join this discussion to answer this: Looking at this structure, what are the likely material costs involved? I just think we spent way too much of this money on this piece? John, does that $580k cost also include the land there and or any other improvements or things besides the metal ribbon?
10:15 AM on April 8th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – it’s been awhile since I’ve seen the staff report, but I believe that the artist, consulting, and labor expenses comprised most of the $580K. Artist maintenance could be included in the price tag.
Thx, John Z.
12:48 PM on April 8th, 2010
I’m in the metal fabrication industry and the structue is made out of stainless steel…expensive…rolling the pipe…expensive…perforated stainless cladding…expensive…full pen welds…expensive…engineering…expensive. Please post if you want any other details…
2:26 PM on August 4th, 2010
Material costs were well over $1ooK.
This thing is 100% stainless steel.
10:36 AM on April 8th, 2010
Above points well taken and very justified – the high density affordable housing not much in favor of current residents and less trees unlike our affluent sisters Pleanston, Danville and San Ramon. This metal structure seems totally a waste of money!
But like every thing has a bright side, I am impelled to think of the ribbon as an art “to see” by tourists, passerby who may stop at Dublin on way to San Francisco/San Jose, and help city’s economy by shopping/eating at the Hacienda Mall or the places close by the ribbon. I hope this gives the city a modern look. And may be 100 years from now (hoping to be alive by then
this will be a historic land mark. Our great grand children would one day say “my grannys used to live in the City of the Great Ribbon” 
3:20 PM on April 22nd, 2010
I really can’t imagine ANYONE deliberately stopping to see this thing. I drove by it last weekend with some friends from out of town, and they pointed at it and said “what the hell is that thing?” After explaining it, they remarked that it looked really ugly, and like a total waste of space.
With all the REAL art and beauty in the Bay Area, why would anyone waste their time looking at this thing?
10:44 AM on April 8th, 2010
Is the artist well known? Who is the artist? Is he local?
11:04 AM on April 8th, 2010
It was designed by an architect in SF-RHAA, I believe. I think they used an engineering firm in Berkeley-Endersware
12:16 PM on April 8th, 2010
This is totally irresponsible, and ironic that this news comes a week after the blog posting “Anatomy of Dublin’s City Budget Woes”. Going back and looking at the details there, it looks like this artwork is half of the city’s general fund deficit, but the article would rather point at other factors (consumer spending habits, police and fire spending, housing values).
It would be worth understanding if this was an avoidable expense, or if we had put agreements in place before the economic downturn that forced our hand to follow through with this. It would also be worth a financial review to see if we have other nonsensical commitments given the current economic climate.
2:07 PM on April 8th, 2010
I personally like the public art work. Historically, public art could always bring up the image of a city and create a sense of community. It is a nice boost to the city, after the significant economic downturn which wipe out the jobs and drag down property value. However, I would not sacrifice so much by over-building affordable housing in exchange of the token of return. I believe that we as Dublin home owners could easily afford to spend this amount of money funding by the property tax revenue, if the property values had not gone down so much partly because of the excessive affordable housing. Again, I like the overall design of the Gateway that I think Dublin needs so badly as a boost in general.
12:33 PM on April 8th, 2010
AD team:
I appreciate the intent of what you’re trying to do by disseminating information to the residents of Dublin, but you REALLY need to be more balanced in the way you present these articles. If you don’t, you’re doing the residents a dis-service by presenting a very skewed view that furthers what I personally believe your personal axe-grinding message is.
Specifically, the way you present this is seems like you’re implying that the city spend half a million $ funding artwork, in the midst of a downturn, when they should be putting the $ into the city fund instead.
These grants and projects dont happen overnight. I’m willing to bet that:
* this grant was make at least 2 or 3 years ago (e.g. before the global economic collapse)
* the grant is tied to *specific* projects that can’t be changed
* the art was commissioned long ago and can’t be canceled
* zero city dollars went to this project
* there’s no legal way to *divert* the grant funds to the city budget
I haven’t called the city to confirm these assumptions, but I bet that I’m at least 80% right. If so, that negates the concerned comments that the city is spending $ irresponsibly.
My broader point is that AD is being irresponsible for not doing a little more homework and presenting more balanced facts before you get people fired up about this. Presenting half of the story, no matter how well intentioned, is irresponsible.
BTW, the bias in this story (in my humble opinion) is just the latest instance of a trend that I see on this blog.
4:21 PM on April 8th, 2010
I have re-read the article and I did not find anything biased presented by AD. AD did not say anything about the city budget deficit in this article. AD did not mention any possible relationship between city budget deficit and the money spent on this project. AD said this money is coming from federal grant for high-density and affordable housing development. Is that a fact or not? I am surprised why you keep bashing AD like this. Are you one of those OneDublin.org folks?
5:37 PM on April 8th, 2010
The timing of the building of the structure was bad – it has nothing to do with AD. In the midst of the budget issues, the city builds some piece of art. Maybe the City could have done it differently.
1:41 PM on April 8th, 2010
I was wondering what that thing was! I had thought Honda was putting it up. I must say that it’s probably the last thing the city needs given the budget situation.
2:19 PM on April 8th, 2010
Adam,
“completely funded by Federal Transportation dollars”-probably because of the new Bart station. I think they wouldn’t have been given the money unless they found these kinds of “improvements” to do. It happened in my city too. We also bought lots of crappy artwork. Also, these kinds of things take years to plan-it was probably paid for well before the downturn.
3:16 PM on April 8th, 2010
Did this Federal grant money have to be spent on art or beautification? (John, is that known?).. If not, then yes, a definite argument of why we’re spending this money on this instead of something else..
If this money indeed HAD to be spent on art / beautification, I would still say we paid too much for it.. Could’ve used some of that for something else (redoing old buildings,etc)…. It’s like when the Feds pay $400 for a hammer or something.. Just ’cause you have to spend the money doesn’t mean you can’t at least try to make it go as far as possible…..
3:25 PM on April 8th, 2010
Hi Anonymous – from what I recall, the money can be used for just about anything that improves Dublin Blvd. Some of the other money has been used to add the identity markers, repairs, and other aesthetic items.
Thx, John Z.
4:29 PM on April 8th, 2010
I would love the city to spend some of the money to repave the segment of Dublin Blvd from Dougherty to Village Parkway. That is the worst paved segment in the whole Dublin.
6:21 PM on April 8th, 2010
Just want everyone know that nice design does not come cheap. When all the professional service fee are included, like structural engineers, graphic designer, architects and so. 580000 is not a lot of money. In fact, I am sure it takes time and trail and error to come up with different options to make it economically feasible and structural sound. In addition, stainless steel are not cheap, but it likely lasts forever. It does not seem fair for those who are not in the architecture/construction industry to say this art piece seems too expensive. In our architecture/engineering industry, it is like a norm that passionate designers, architects and engineers work longer than 8 hrs a day without even charging to the project to come up with the design. The material may cost like 200K, plus the contractor mark-up and professional fees like that, 580K is very reasonable for something that will be timeless feature.
Even I am not in the design team, I am proud to see this wonderful piece of art work going up in Dublin. It looks very unique that I don’t recall something even close in any other bay area cities.
That’s a very impressive masterpiece in Dublin.
4:56 PM on April 8th, 2010
I agree with the post above, that this project wasn’t just decided on yesterday. I am sure it goes back several years when they first bought those properties and decided it was for this purpose. The money at that time was designated for this. The artist and engineer were paid in installments over several months, probably well over a year ago before the economy tanked. In fact, I think there was a post on this website about this over a year ago.
I am a civil engineer in the construction industry. Here is a guess of cost:
Engineering: 30K
Materials:250K
Fabrication:100K
Foundation for the structure:50K
Install:25K
Landscaping:10K
Artists Fee:remainder.
There could also be maitenance factored into this cost.
I think everyone knows that his wouldn’t be approved now with the way the economy is, but don’t pretend this happened overnight.
6:21 PM on April 8th, 2010
ugly beyond belief…egregious waste of money…looks like a frickin cheap rollar coaster butler amusement left behind…disgusting!…and we pay these idiots to promote dublin…i think these idiots that run the show and are responsible for buying this horseshit have been smoking to much weed and eating too many mushrooms…SHAME!!!
6:33 PM on April 8th, 2010
did butler amusement leave behind this hidious junk??? ugly and shamefull…perhaps the artist is related to the dopes that voted this absurdity in…waste of money for junk…i could have gone to a junkyard and gotten something better for $2000…what kind of idiots are running the show in dublin??? i drove by it tonight again and said wtf?…this is not art it is garbage…SHAME!
9:25 PM on April 8th, 2010
Such a waste of money, truly pathetic – bravo politicians. Such a joke.
9:05 AM on April 9th, 2010
Creation of long lasting and beautiful objects of art for the community provide jobs for the community as well. Relax… and be thankful there are projects like this available for everyone to enjoy.
9:22 AM on April 9th, 2010
Is there an artist’s drawing of what this area will look like when it’s done? I’m sure it won’t just be the structure alone on cement… Is there some Dublin sign, lighting, landscaping or anything.. I’d love to see what the final product is supposed to look like..
10:06 AM on April 9th, 2010
Way to go Dublin! An ugly heap of metal whose intended shape can only be seen from above is just what we need! Who wants the originally planned nice, full trees anyway? They would just class the place up like our neighbors in Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Danville.
10:21 AM on April 10th, 2010
580k for this? They got ripped off big time.
8:03 PM on April 10th, 2010
I have a friend that has a small plane he keeps at Livermore airport– We went up today and flew over this art piece.. I wanted to see what the artist wanted to show from above… Just as I thought. When flying over it, it spells out \WTF-LOL\
Way to go….
11:03 AM on April 11th, 2010
We all should wait until they install the lights before we keep commenting and finish up the landscape. I drove by yesterday. I only can see it at certain angles. It is actually good to have some many pros and cons for this art piece. I can’t wait to see how they enhance it once the lights are installed
4:19 PM on April 11th, 2010
I totally agree with you, and cant understand why everyone is rushing to such a negative judgement on this piece,. At least wait until it’s done to decide if you like it or not.
I can’t say that I’m surprised though, because there’s such a rediculously negative tone across most topics on this blog. It’s really easy for people to sit behind a keyboard and complain! I hope that the people lodging such negative comments also spend as much time volunteer in local organizations to better our community.
9:37 PM on April 13th, 2010
Hello Around Dublin Readers – here is a link to a City of Dublin document that provides more detail on the Eternal Ribbon and other Dublin Boulevard enhancements:
http://www.ci.dublin.ca.us/pdf/Corridor%20Enhancement%20PDF.pdf
Thx, John Z.
7:49 PM on April 21st, 2010
Looks really nice when it is done.
10:46 PM on April 21st, 2010
Hello Around Dublin Readers – please note that the comment above was posted by somebody other than myself.
Thx, John Z.
12:06 PM on April 11th, 2010
Hunk of wasted junk…
5:28 PM on April 12th, 2010
This on the heels of the BART parking garage they erected. You’re kidding, right? Tell me this is an April Fools joke.
10:44 AM on April 21st, 2010
looks like UGLY piece of JUNK, cannot believe this is permanent !!!
6:34 PM on April 21st, 2010
I see it cost 580K to build. I wonder how much to get rid of it! The money could have been better used. How about promoting Dublin and getting some restaurants like BJ’s or Claim Jumper to start. As for additional city revenues, why don’t stop building commerical space and start filling in all the empty ones (Mervyns, Home Expo, Circuit City).
1:51 PM on April 22nd, 2010
The $580K could be better used. I do not see the Eternal Ribbon helping the city in any way. The structure is just sitting pretty (or in this case ugly).
3:23 PM on April 22nd, 2010
Money really is the root of all evil.
Just because of the city’s greedy want of cash, now we residents have to suffer with more affordable housing (and the riff raff and problems that comes with it) AND an atrocious piece of art.
We’d have been better off without that money.
10:57 AM on April 24th, 2010
John run for city council – we need to take the city back from white trash west siders.
11:35 AM on April 27th, 2010
I’m an art lover, I think beautification is import in all of our great cities. Dublin took it’s residents into consideration obviously when looking to enhance the city and keep it exciting. How can you be so cynical. Some of you talk about getting tenants in the open commercial space. There was surely some folks that didn’t want those shops in the town to begin with. But alas they showed up and people purchased products and took home paychecks. Development is never perfect but growth is important. Plenty of cities would love to add some character but don’t have the funds to do so. This money was planned out long ago so to think they just decided to spend some money is crazy.
12:04 AM on April 29th, 2010
I can think of $580,000 of potholes that could have been fixed or roads that could have been re-paved.