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March 12, 2008
The Latest Greatest Survey
| Image: Another national survey was completed recently
that gives us some insight into the presidential primaries. I'm not implying any connection
between the results of the survey above and the one discussed below. I simply want people to be informed. Somehow I got sick again. I think it has to do with having two little germ factories running around my house. This impacts my blog writing because I feel like hell, and if I type for too long my nose will drain onto the keyboard. Plus I couldn't write it last night, and so don't have much time this morning. The big news is that the $30,000 city survey was unveiled last night at a General Plan workshop(see city presentation here). And now with new vigor and direction the city will move forward and solve all of the budget problems. We'll all look back on this moment as the turning point where the war waged against inefficiency and government waste was won. Jenn Klein wrote this story on the survey. In a stunning revelation the survey confirms that the public enjoys graffiti (they want to cut attempts to combat graffiti) more than the public art program (they want to cut money spent on public art programs). If only there were some way to combine graffiti and public art? Perhaps if we placed more gang members on the Art Commission? A 30% cut in art programs, which the Council already decided not to do, would make a teeny dent in the budget issue. I think the best part of this survey is that now the Council will make all of the tough decisions to balance the budget. I feel so confident that that will happen. Whew! What a relief. Buried in the report is a section on where people get most of their city news. More people get their city news from blogs than from the Chico Beat. But since The Beat doesn't print anything anymore that's not a victory I'm terribly proud of. On the other hand people get more news about the city from their church than from blogs. Also, the Chico Today News was a greater source of information than the blogs. I don't think the City can afford any more of those, so CI is going to move up at least one notch in the news source list. I'm going to use this survey to attract new readers because it's an excellent marketing tool. I probably need to approach church groups with some kind of media kit. I'll start working on that. |
| Spotlight: Supervisors don't like new river park idea The County Supervisors don't like the State River Park I mentioned previously. One interesting quote made it sound like the camping aspect is what they didn't appreciate. Flags Update E-R's Ryan Olson updates the story on why the American Flag may not fly in Chico because of the Earth Flag's use of the flag hardware, and legal issues. |
 |
 CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: One of the Knights of Ni, Mark Sorensen. See comments below for the answer. I want some shrubbery. |
Posted by Lon at March 12, 2008 09:24 AM
Comments
CIC: Google God Logo
http://www.logoogle.com/images/Google-Logos/Logooward/Google-God.jpg
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at March 12, 2008 10:17 AM
Hey Lon,
Keep in mind there's a big difference between "Community Arts" funding which come from TOT Funds and "Public Art" which is mostly funded from RDA. There's a big difference with the kind of art and it's funding source.
Community arts groups are non-profits that include performance and visual media, such as the Children's Choir, the Art Center, Theater, Ballet, etc. These probably generate more economic development TOT money than they cost.
Public Art includes The Hands, The Plow, The Chess Tables, etc. This is a completely different conversation.
Some of my favorites are the Aerosol and Graffiti Murals that were low cost and included many artists. These include the Butterfly Murals, 99 Dreams, the Camouflage Pillars in Bidwell Park and the pieces at the Skate Park. They have been funded by the Park Dept. except for the Train of Thought soundwall project which was privately funded by Rory Rottschalk and the Natural Elements Mural downtown, funded by PG&E. These projects use good graffiti to deter bad graffiti and have proven very effective.
I also really think a shift toward more private sponsorship and matching funds for public art would be a great way to go. It would involve more of the community and the City would get a lot more bang for the buck. I think we could get a lot more with less money with better in house management that has experience doing outdoor art. Or better yet, create an outside group or guild of qualified people to run it like COBA.
And let's see more good graffiti!
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 12, 2008 06:08 PM
Gregg,
Im always impressed with your knowledge of art related matters.
Do you have any idea how the Costco Art Project came to be ?
Im certain its a tribute to all the people in Chapmantown that work or have worked at a car wash.
Private sponsored art is working good here in the hood. Maybe we can get the same artist hooked up to corproate sponsers in other neighborhoods.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Trolinder at March 13, 2008 08:09 AM
Gregg,
That's true. The survey was directed towards solving the General Fund budget deficit which relates to the TOT funds. The 30% cut in arts program was also related to saving money in the General Fund. Saving money in the RDA hasn't been discussed yet.
The survey responses don't discriminate (as far as I can tell) between public art pieces and public art programs. Many of the sculptures and other pieces around town were at least partially funded by the RDA, although in most cases that wasn't the only funding source they used.
The RDA uses 20% of tax increment income to produce affordable housing. This is mandated by state law. It uses 1% to augment public art projects, this is a locally mandated amount. There are restrictions on public art funded by RDA, such as a requirement that they be a permanent installation. We all recently read that the RDA is overspent by $11.4 million. While this survey and all budget discussions so far intentionally ignore the RDA, that won't continue to happen.
But I agree with Mike, you know a lot about art. Have you considered applying for the Art Commission?
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 13, 2008 08:50 AM
Mark,
That is from the Google God logo, but I think the image is originally from Monty Python, and possibly the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
That makes you an official Knight Who Says Ni...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_who_say_Ni
Lon
Posted by: Lon at March 13, 2008 08:59 AM
Lon, you funny guy. Me apply for the Art Commission...
I have the pleasure to participate in another Public Art Program Policies and Procedure's Revision Committee meeting this afternoon. This has to be the City's longest committee name which means it must be really important. These meetings were started back when I was on the Art Commission, a couple years ago with the intent to clarify all the wacky programs that have been used over the years and try to make sense of them in one document.
My hope is that if the process just has complete transparency with all the information accessible online, it will automatically prevent a lot of the historical and existing problems from continuing. I know, I'm dreaming, but I have to follow through with what I started.
It truly is a mess. One big problem is that these programs would need a lot of Staff support that is qualified in many different fields of expertise to make them work at all. We don't have it now and I don't think the City would be inclined to hire the people necessary for quite awhile. The alternative is to get more qualified volunteers to help out on the Art in Public Places Committee. Of course there seems to be a lot of resistance to all of these ideas from the single part time Staff person we have now.
Posted by: Gregg Payne at March 13, 2008 09:34 AM