By Marilyn Bauer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A standing-room-only crowd broke into applause Thursday when the Cincinnati Park Board unanimously approved the construction of the Crystalline Tower in the soon-to-open Theodore M. Berry International Friendship Park.

"We are very excited about going forward with the project and providing really good work for the people of Cincinnati," said artist Susan Ewing. "And we're grateful for the outpouring of support from the community. It shows how many people care about the project and public art in Cincinnati."

The approval comes after a November board meeting when Parks Director Willie F. Carden Jr. was to recommend the tower's demise. It is more than a year after Ewing, with Czechoslovakian artist, Vratislav Novak, won the $200,000 commission in an international competition.

Carden opened the meeting with a commendation to his staff for working with the artists and their structural engineer in addressing a number of concerns.

"Their engineers have responded to those questions," added Steve Schuckman, superintendent for design and planning. "The big change in design was that the tower initially was designed for public access."

A spiral staircase that evoked a DNA strand meant to transport visitors to the top of the structure was not approved. However, Schuckman noted the stairway might be reintroduced if Ewing and Novak are able to raise the funds.

Ewing has raised $135,804, which she says will cover not only the staircase, but also special lighting to be trained on the tower.

Issues such as longevity of materials, bird droppings, public safety and graffiti were all addressed to the staff's satisfaction.

The tower was to stand in a pool of water, with a stainless steel bridge curving over it and stainless stars floating on the surface of the water. The bridge will stay, but the pool would add an estimated $200,000 to the project (doubling the original commission), so it was eliminated.

"Any additional elements are possible if funding is obtained," said Schuckman."We would talk about it at the time and do the same type of do diligence. The project is being designed so those enhancements could happen in the future."

The park will open May 17.

E-mail mbauer@enquirer.com