4/26/07, Breakfast with Mayor Ives & the arts commission

scoll down for updates.

This breakfast was announced to the public in the Wednesday Redmond Reporter. Two staff members were present plus the Mayor and about 6 arts commissioners. My wife and I and possibly another citizen were the only general public in attendance. This "breakfast" had the attributes of a "public meeting". "

The Mayor did most of the talking. Lots of reminiscing about her accomplishments, travels, challenges, success, and then some talk about her retirement, legacy gifts, among other things. (Hint: Rosemary likes water fountains. hint-hint: especially at the city hall "Civic Park".) Of course, art was the focal point.

Utility box artwork by schoolchildren seemed the topic of interest. Note the above photo of Redmond's "trial box" -- near the public library & Wells Fargo bank. (the boxes were painted by adults, not schoolchildren). Last year, when I surveyed our city outdoor art scattered around Redmond (tag "art" to find earlier blog). I, too, felt a strong attraction to the utility box artwork. So does Pam.

I do have a few concerns, though. At breakfast, the Mayor told the table, in so many words, that the city would be moving ahead with painting 93 utility boxes with art and we one last chance to comment on it. I was surprised the city could move so fast. I raised my hand with three concerns:

1) not to create a Fremontish look by randomly painting all 93 boxes

2) paint with a theme and

3) pick utility boxes with safety in mind - for the children and drivers.

I didn't know how much conversation the arts commissioners had with the Mayor and staff on this venue, but it sounded like the mayor considered it a done deal. A few commissioners suggested painting on "skins". A staff member recommended a process of culling the art at schools to select it (as they had done for the Mayor's office art).

Rosemarie referred to Santa Fe and other proven utility box art. Rosemarie's already been in touch with Bill Campbell, new Public Works Director, for moving the project forward. I love the art concept. My only concern is the lack of public involvement on how it's rolled out and that the arts commissioners aparently not entirely vetting the project.

Citizen-commissioner "focus groups" including a relavent Council committee chair member (in this case, Robinson) and limited staff would be a positive step towards reaching decisions of related to city culture -- and public notice.

The city heron LOGO we now have was launched unbeknownst to the public. I think neighborhoods deserve a better chance to engage on long-standing decisions of cultural impact.
I never had a chance to ask all of the commissioners for their thoughts.
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UPDATE, 4/28/07 A citizen close to the commissioners confided there was no vetting (in-depth appraisal or review) by the arts commisioners of utility box art prior to the mayor's "proclaimed" breakfast decision.

UPDATE, 4/30/07 - FROM Parks Director, Craig Larsen: "let's not get ahead of ourselves... re: the utility boxes. We are not moving ahead on anything at this point. The first one was a test. So far the response is negligible and mostly positive. I think it is a worthy effort to try to make the boxes that festoon the city a little better looking. I am not sure of the best way to do that."

Update, 5/2/07 - The ex-arts commissioner got up at Items from the audience and explained how they are still working on utility box art and that it's still in the testing phase; false alarm from Ives.

Comment to: celarsen@redmond.gov 425-556-2311
Comment to: mayor@redmond.gov (Mayor Rosemarie Ives)
Comment to: jrobinson@redmond.gov (Jim Robinson - Council Park (& Art) Chair)
RAC@redmond.gov (Redmond Arts Commission)