“I think they should be embraced,” Howard said. Some board members disagree. The statues went up without the public space permits, and the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions objected. The matter then landed before the Old Georgetown Board, which advises the Federal Commission on Fine Arts. Last week, the board deemed the statues inappropriate for their location and denied Howard a permit for them. The statues would have to come down. But Howard hasn’t given up. He said there’s a deeper message behind the statues. “Human beings coalesce,” he said. “They’re independent entities, but they need one another.” Howard works with and studies prosthetics and the human brain. He said it “gives people second hope.”