— A $150,000 big bird will be the city's belated birthday gift to itself.
City commissioners originally planned to spend $150,000 each on two projects in connection with its 2011 Centennial celebration: one lighting the underside of the 17th Street bridge and the second a public art project for Sistrunk Boulevard.
The bridge-lighting idea was dropped after officials learned the cost would be far higher than anticipated. A community group continued to work on the Sistrunk Boulevard art project, scaling back some earlier designs to fit the budget.
The proposal commissioners supported on Tuesday is a 6-foot bronze sculpture of the legendary African Sankofa bird holding an egg.