Rich Connelly does some original reporting for the Houston Press:
Few things say “culture” more than government-sponsored art, and Houstonians should prepare themselves for seeing more and more of it.
A 2001 ordinance, just now beginning to be implemented, calls for 1.75 percent of the construction budget for some city buildings to be devoted to public art. One of the first projects under the ordinance is a new fire station in the Denver Harbor neighborhood.
The city wants to spend $43,650 on a ceramic-tile mural by Suzanne Sellers, but the expenditure has been held up by councilman Adrian Garcia, whose district includes Denver Harbor.
“When we saw ‘$43,000 for art’ [on the agenda], we just had some questions,” says Giovanni Goribay, Garcia’s chief of staff.
It turns out other bids had come in at $90,000, so the city got something of a bargain. (Disclosure: Eleven years ago Sellers painted the mural on the building the Houston Press now occupies.) Still, as the new ordinance is implemented, councilmembers are hoping for more information on neighborhood input and what happens to any of the 1.75 percent that isn’t spent. (With a politico’s appreciation of things artistic, Goribay notes of any excess cash, “The councilman would like it to stay in his district, at least.”)
Surely nothing says Houston is a world-class city like spending tens of thousands of dollars on “public” art for a fire station (where most of the public will never see it)!
Now let’s try and remember…. Who was mayor when this latest instance of fiscal insanity was apparently conceived?
Yes, that would be one Lee P. Brown!
The legacy (of corruption, potholes, crime-lab mismanagement, pension-plan mismanagement, and general nitwittery) continues to grow. Who knows how many more gifts he’s left for us that we’ll soon be discovering?!
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