For more than four decades, Dallas community members have made requests for a public tribute to Santos Rodriguez.

Now, the city is moving forward with plans for a public art display to honor Rodriguez’s legacy, but the plans stop short of calling it a memorial.

Community activists said they want residents to know the history behind the murder of 12-year-old Rodriguez, who was killed by a Dallas police officer in 1973. The officer interrogated and then killed Rodriguez Russian-roulette style with a revolver.

1 / 2Bessie Rodriguez, the mother of Santos Rodriguez, holds a painting of her son in her Dallas home on Friday, July 5 ,2013. (David Woo / Staff Photographer) 2 / 2David Rodriguez, 13, left, and his brother Santos Rodriguez, 12, stand by a relative's car in 1973 just one month before Santos was killed. (Photo courtesy of family)

Rodriguez’s mother, Bessie Rodriguez, said she is pleased with the plans but remains skeptical. Bessie has been promised statues, street names and schools for years, but all efforts have failed.

“It’s great, if it gets done. Like I said, over these 45 years, they have been making so many promises. I don’t believe until I see it,” she said. She said she still wants a memorial statue with a plaque detailing her son’s murder.

Initial steps have been taken, but there’s a two year time line ahead, according to city officials. It’s a process that involves the Dallas City Council, the Dallas Park and Recreation Board and the Office of Cultural Affairs.

Why doesn’t Dallas already have a remembrance to Santos?

The potential location for the project could be Pike Park, a historic piece of what remains of Little Mexico. The area is better known today as Victory Park. It was the last place where Santos played.

The plan calls for an art piece that can include Santos Rodriguez's name, but does not include a plaque or sign. According to Dallas Morning News archives, near the 20th anniversary of Rodriguez's death, a Dallas Hispanic Citizens Council pledged memorial ideas, including a plaque or statue at the site of his death. The task force also suggested renaming the police academy in honor of Santos. But it never happened.

El Centro de la Raza, a community organization in Seattle, built a memorial park in 1975 in honor of Santos. It was not on public park land, which is a binding and bureaucratic process in Dallas.

How was this able to get done?

Dallas City Council member Adam Medrano, who has served District 2 since 2013, said when he was elected that he wanted to get a commemoration to Santos Rodriguez during his tenure.

“I want to see it done before I leave,” Medrano said. “I promised them that. Someone has to have the will to do it.”

Medrano said he then tasked his park board member, Jesse Moreno, who got the funds for the public art at Pike Park. The proposed $74,185 for the project comes from bond allocations, the city officials said. The park department is working with the Office of Cultural Affairs, who will be in charge of finding the artist.

“For so many years, it’s been talked about, but it’s never been this far in the process,” Moreno said.

How will they choose the artist?

The Office of Cultural Affairs oversees the artist selection process for public art projects. Kay Kallos, public art program manager at OCA, said the project is open to local, national or international artists. In addition to feedback from community meetings, an artist selection panel picks the final artist that meets the criteria, which includes quality of design, durability and other principles.

At an initial community meeting held on July 24, many said they felt it was important for a local artist to be selected.

“The city planner kept talking about getting an internationally famous artist,” said Hadi Jawad, a community activist who was at the meeting. “It would be more significant to get someone who knows the story.”

OCA will host a meeting at the Latino Cultural Center for artists who are interested in the project. “If you know artists in the Latino community — and we have a lot of Latino artists here who do work in public art — encourage them to apply,” Kallos said. “If they have never done public art before, then they need to come to this workshop to figure out how it works.”

How can the community get involved?

Community members can get involved by sitting on the artist selection panel, attending project meetings, or by contributing money to the project. Kallos said community involvement is important for projects like these, and that donations have enhanced public art pieces in the past.

“It's a really complicated project that has public interaction at many different locations in the process because it's public art,” Kallos said, “and that's a good thing.”

What are other public art examples?

Previous public art projects that the Dallas City Council has approved include the Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan piece, which was given a budget of $74,000 and received added funds through donations. The total spending reached $142,000 for the project.

A year ago, Dallas planned a public monument to honor black painter Arthello Beck Jr., which had a budget for a little over $80,000.

CORRECTION, 6:11 P.M., July 26: An earlier version incorrectly stated the park board voted to secure funding to the public art at Pike Park.