An unfinished Vietnam War memorial in Orange County has been reduced to rubble after city officials found it would be cheaper to tear down the shoddily built monument than repair it.
Crews arrived this week to demolish the tribute after the project’s brainchild pleaded guilty to bribery for funneling money to a nonprofit that he paid $1 million to erect the memorial in Fountain Valley’s Mile Square.
County Supervisor Andrew Do, who was sentenced to five years in prison for the crime last year, forked over the cash for the monument’s completion, but no records turned up showing how the money was spent, KTLA reported.
The result was cracked and crumbling granite slabs that would have required up to $460,000 to fix and add engravings to, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“When I saw this, it’s a disgrace,” Do’s successor, Supervisor Janet Nguyen, told KTLA. “It’s so heartbreaking to see that this is how we honor our veterans. This is not who we are.”
Official decided the most cost-effective approach would be to demolish the memorial — to the tune of $30,000 taxpayer money — and start again.
“We’re going to replace it,” Nguyen said at a November press conference. “We gotta do it right because we owe it to these veterans.”
