Familiar 'Man in the City' sculpture off I-96 removed by Lyon Township officials

LYON Township, Mich. (FOX 2) - John Sauve is the artist that created the "Man in the City" art piece - resembling the outline of a man in a fedora.

They’re about 100 of them a various shapes and sizes all around metro Detroit, but the big one was in Lyon Township overlooking I-96.

"There are 2,000 cars that go by that road every day, on 96, yes, and it’s amazing," Sauve said.

On July 3 someone cut the sculpture down, unknown to the artist. He originally thought it was vandals, as he stated on the hot seat interview Sunday morning on FOX 2.

But after the show aired on FOX 2, Sauve received a letter from the Lyon Township attorney that revealed the township did it.

"Actually, our maintenance department did," said John Dolan, township supervisor.

Lyon Township workers got rid of the sculpture that’s been around since 2011 and it was even mentioned in a Lyon Township historical book- why?

"Over the years, since 2014, we've been getting a lot of vandals going up there and putting breasts on it, and putting male things on there," Dolan said.

Dolan said that the township had to constantly go up there - on top of public area and old landfill, and repaint it. He says they’ve even had some complaints that little kids were frightened by it.

The "Man in the City" sculpture. Photo: Google Earth

FOX 2: "Did you tell John Sauve the artist that you had complaints?"

"I’ve never met John Sauve. He’s never come up here," said Dolan. "I couldn’t tell you who he was until I saw the interview with you."

"The dialogue that public art creates that has been created around this piece, has been all positive," Sauve said.

But nevertheless, the piece is down and according to the letter from the city attorney, if Sauve doesn’t come and get it, it will be cut up.

"We’re not going to destroy it. We wanted to let him know, look,  we don't want it destroyed," he said.

But to keep it in Lyon Township, it would take a new vote of the Township board.

FOX 2: "Do you like it?"

"I don’t really have an opinion on it one way or the other," Dolan said. "If the board voted to put it back up, and wanted to put it back up, so be it."

FOX 2: "How would you vote?"

"I’d have to think about it a little bit," he said.

But Sauve tells me that since this story aired, he has had other cities that are thinking about the "Man in the City" in their city. Stay tuned.

The "Man in the City" sculpture.