(NewsNation) — Park Ridge, Illinois, suburb of Chicago and home of actor Harrison Ford, will not build a statue of the famed star after the town’s alderman rejected the idea Tuesday night.
Alderman on the Park Ridge Council cited the high cost of building the statue and Ford’s negative sentiment toward his hometown as the main reasons for not building the statue.
Ford was reportedly bullied and has said high school was a difficult time in his life. According to the Chicago Tribune, bullies would roll Ford down a hill into thorny bushes on an almost daily basis.
Locals had mixed feelings about the statue. Some who were interviewed by NewsNation were unaware Harrison Ford was even from Park Ridge; others had apathetic feelings toward the whole situation.
The artists who built Chicago’s famous statue of NBA-legend Michael Jordan said a statue of Ford in Park Ridge would have been “unifying.”
“People like places to go, they like to have destinations and especially with sculptures, they enjoy the
you know, having the opportunity to stand next to it and get a photo taken,” artist Gary Tillery said. “And it just seemed like an excellent figure to do that. And in a sense, it would kind of unify people because it doesn’t matter what political stripe you are when you stand next to him.”