BRUCE Lee's new home in the aptly named Shunde Gardens is a step closer to completion after Kogarah Council approved the $230,500 needed to bring the site up to scratch.
In August last year the council decided to move the statue of the Chinese martial arts legend from the Town Square to a garden of its own on the corner of South Street and Montgomery Street near the entrance of St George Private Hospital.
The existing South Street Reserve is to be renamed Shunde Gardens, to commemorate the Friendship City relationship between Kogarah and Shunde, the statue-making city that gifted the statue to Kogarah.
Shunde is the ancestral home of the California-born Lee, who died in 1973.
The money will be spent on a Chinese garden theme as befits this relationship.
The statue caused a furore when unveiled at Kogarah Town Square in March 2011, with protests, petitions and threats of vandalism because Lee had no real connection to Kogarah.
But many believed at the time that Town Square was a better option than other suggested sites.
These included Kogarah Park with its war memorial and sporting walk of fame, or Carss Bush Park, a heritage-listed site of historical and cultural significance.
At the August meeting, after a notice of motion from Nickolas Varvaris, the council decided to give Bruce a new home, in a new park in which the statue would be the focal point.
At that time several residents defended the statue's right to remain in Town Square, saying it was a landmark and liked by many. And that moving it to an out-of-the-way park was a shabby treatment of a gift — and creating a new garden was a waste of money.
Someone suggested the statue should be replaced by one of Clive James.
Do you think this is a good spot for the Bruce Lee statue?
