COEUR d'ALENE - Brooklyn native and New Mexico transplant Howard Meehan knew about Coeur d'Alene's history: its Native American culture, natural resources, lumber mills.

The artist had seen pictures of the Lake City, and could visualize the old log yards and water with its sailboats.

But he had never visited, until this week, when the 72-year-old, builder, drawer, painter and designer swung into town to see the spot where his latest art piece, 'Under The Rainbow,' will go.

"I love this place, and I'm not just saying that to shine you guys up," Meehan said Wednesday outside a downtown coffee shop, a stone's throw from the entrance to McEuen Park. "It's everything I thought it was going to be."

Meehan's interpretive, interactive art piece will be 30 feet high and stretch 60 feet across, and will be up by the end of December at the intersection of Fourth and Front streets.

It should glow: Cables will be strung together, like an arch, connected by two pillars, whose LED lights will shine and light up the lines.

Familiar with Coeur d'Alene history though he was, Meehan went the other way. He tapped into his New York roots for his inspiration - the Brooklyn Bridge.

But Meehan wanted his version to be more open, transparent, something the public could walk under. He wanted the cables to shine, and music to play when passersby trigger it.

"The work becomes less than a stationary thing, it's kinetic, it's moving," said Meehan, who has 35 public art pieces displayed around the country. "I'm always trying to get some action with these things."

Make no mistake, though, the cables pay tribute to one of the world's most recognizable suspension bridges.

"That became my inspiration," he said of the New York landmark, a picture of which hangs in his Santa Fe studio. "It's always been an inspiration."

As an artist, Meehan is no stranger to criticism, either, so he's aware his latest piece isn't pleasing everyone. But, he said, he wasn't trying to make a political statement on gay rights, as some say the piece symbolizes, when he designed the $110,000 structure. Nor was he trying to represent the city's anti-discrimination ordinance. He was just making art.

"When I see a rainbow, I see the beauty of it," he said. "It has nothing to do, politically, with anything."

Drawing criticism

But some don't see it that way.

They say the rainbow design is a symbolic gesture for gay rights, and doesn't belong in politically conservative North Idaho. And the timing of its introduction two months after the city made national headlines for adopting its anti-discrimination ordinance is suspiciously close.

The topic came up last week at the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans meeting when the political group was introduced to City Council candidate Sharon Hebert, who was asked what she thought about the piece that "clearly represents a rainbow" and "the gay pride movement," by attorney Duane Rasmussen.

"I think that with all the controversy that we've had in regards of adoption of the new ordinances, we don't need to have another controversy in regards to a symbol of gay life at the entrance of the new park," Rasmussen said Wednesday, referring to the anti-discrimination ordinance the City Council adopted in June.

The ordinance, which passed 5 to 1, protects gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the workplace and public accommodations by prohibiting people from discriminating against them or firing them solely for their sexual identity. Coeur d'Alene was the fifth Idaho city to adopt such an ordinance, and drew heavy criticism from those who felt it discriminated against their religious beliefs.

"I don't think there's anything to celebrate about the lifestyle," said Rasmussen, who felt the art piece would be "a rallying point for homosexuals," which he called a learned behavior that can harm the general population. "I think there are people out there who feel the same way I do, who just don't have the energy to oppose it."

Hebert declined to answer the question at the meeting.

"It's not something I'm commenting on from a vacuum," Rasmussen added.

Selecting the statues

The piece was selected from 97 entries by a volunteer selection committee made up by the Coeur d'Alene Arts Commission, according to Eden Irgens, art commission chair. A Press article announcing the decision two weeks ago received more than 50 comments online. Some of those suggested Rasmussen's opinion was correct: He wasn't alone.

"It appears San Francisco lifestyle has arrived. What in the ..... are these people thinking!" wrote one commentator. "So much for neglecting the area history of steam and tug boats, fur trading, natural beautiful scenery and wildlife."

"As my grandfather who was a logger in the St Maries area would say, 'This thing is wronger than three men in a bubble bath,'" wrote another.

It's not the first public art piece to draw criticism. Genesha, the statue of the Hindu god, earned protesters and picket signs two years ago.

While art is always up for interpretation, Mayor Sandi Bloem said any connection to the recent ordinance or gay rights is off the mark. She said she supported the committee's selection, just as she supported the Genesha statue when it was in town.

"There is absolutely no connection and no intended connection and no actual connection," she said. "That's something that they created in their minds."

The piece is like any other art piece in that opinions will vary, she added.

"There's always going to be some that like it and some that don't," she said. "That is what art is all about. But the entirety of art and the culture of art and what it brings to the community is what's important."

Two more art pieces, ranging between $80,000 and $100,000, are being selected for McEuen Park.

One will be at Third Street and the other will be at the south end of the park where a confluence of trails meet. The selection committees will whittle down submissions to a final four, and display them in the public library so people can write down comments.

The first four will be on display by early September, and the second four should be on display in October, Irgens said.

The same process was used for 'Under The Rainbow,' which was selected unanimously by the selection committee. But The Press also received criticism after the piece was selected because it didn't write an article about the four pieces while they were on display.

Nothing can be done now for those who oppose it, as Rasmussen put it, because "they're already pouring the foundation."

As for the varying opinions on the piece, that's par for the course, Irgens said. The commission is always looking for volunteers to serve on selection committees, so anyone interested should contact City Hall. Whether some like a piece and others hate it? That's standard.

"We get mixed feedback all the time," she said. "Everyone is going to have a different opinion about one piece of art."

Meehan, wrapping up his first visit to Coeur d'Alene Wednesday, agreed. Some of his other pieces have received criticism, too. He chose to do a branch away from traditional pieces for the area because it felt more exciting, less boring, than relying on familiar symbols. But even before he landed in Coeur d'Alene, he knew some weren't wild about his Coeur d'Alene design, because his wife read him the online comments at the bottom of the Press article.

"Make sure you put that," he said after a beat. "That I have a wife."