news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Triumph, Endurance, Hope, Strength and Faith again have a place in the Warnersville community.

A group of Greensboro Parks and Recreation workers  installed the much-discussed benches at their new home near the Freeman Mill Road exit to Lee Street early Tuesday  morning. The benches are near their old location but within sight of the road.

When artist Gary Gresko  finished directing the workers, the benches looked  exactly as they did in their previous location: placed in a semicircle so as to encourage face-to-face conversation; boulders backing them, with the largest one standing upright behind “Hope.”

“I’m ecstatic,” Gresko said of his art being returned to Warnersville. “I’m really happy, and it’s going back the right way. They’re doing a great job.”

Action Greensboro paid $5,000  for Gresko to create the benches, the first public art along the Downtown Greenway.

The benches were removed in October from their original location behind Bilbro Street after some residents complained the benches attracted drug dealers, prostitutes and other loiterers.

Parks and Recreation held the art in storage until Tuesday’s reinstallation.

Dabney  Sanders, project manager for Downtown Greensboro,  said she received calls from residents who wanted the benches placed in other areas of the city.

But Gresko designed the benches with Warnersville in mind. The neighborhood’s rich history includes being the first home in Greensboro for freed slaves after the Civil War.

From community meetings that began in 2007,  Gresko gleaned from residents the words they felt reflected Warnersville: triumph, endurance, hope, strength and faith. The  boulders, unearthed from the community, symbolize the bedrock of Warnersville, Gresko said.

When the city began looking for an alternative spot for the benches, it again sought the community’s input . Sanders said Action Greensboro and the Parks and Recreation Department met with residents. “We wanted people to all feel good about where we ended up with these,” she said.

Assistant City Manager Andy Scott  said in October  that the city’s Human Relations Commission would work with the neighborhood to find a new location in Warnersville that was visible to the public.

Gresko, who originally opposed the relocation of his art, surveyed the site Tuesday morning with pleasure.

“I actually love this spot. It’s beautiful.”

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 373-7080 or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com