8/15/06, Arts, Culture, and Public Engagement

my fourth post, written in 2006

CITY HALL - "SILVER THAW" - GATEWAYS - LOGOS - THE ARTS COMMISSION - OUR SALVATION

The overriding catalyst in the advancement of Redmond culture is public engagement.

Public "turnout" and citizen "activism", or participation, are the hallmarks of engagement. Recently, in a public meeting Mayor Ives proudly referred to "200" citizens turning out for the Transportation Management Plan (TMP). Perrigo Forest and Creek Corridor advocates cite "400-500" citizen woodland marchers.

When citizen participation ebbs the advancement of our culture stalls or veers off course. For example:

1) the new $40M City Hall and it's unfinished, mindless exterior artwork caught us by surprise.

2) regarding the scattered, eclectic, haphazard grouping of landscape sculptures -- should a glossy marketing brochure posted in parking lots be the answer to an incoherent theme?

3) Art Hill appears but a graveyard, to bury the "over kill" of art aquisition. The Ives Administration accumulated 100 pieces (or was it 300?) - so much stuff it had to be mapped by GPS.

3) Then, the unexpected, sudden appearance of a contemporary new City "hidden heron" LOGO. Where did THAT come from?

4) Will our city "Gateway entrances" and "Innovative Housing" be next to fall to ego and government-citizen disconnect? Together, we will advance our culture and make Redmond a better place to live; separate and alone, we falter and drift.

CITY HALL & "SILVER THAW": The above photo is of our new city hall and it's controversial exterior artwork "Silver Thaw", crafted by Ed Carpenter a Portland artist. This outdoor art was funded through our extremely generous 1% "capital improvement building fee." The city hall receptionist explained the artwork was co-selected by Wright / Runstad (contractor and owner of 'our' new city hall) AND the Arts Commission. City Council approved the selection. Question. - where were WE (public) during the selection process for 'Silver Thaw' and the City Hall design? Obviously, we were not engaged. Council President, Nancy McCormick had some words about a citizen "city design workshop" gathering years ago. Nancy didn't document attendance so for all we know only a small gathering of a few 'unrelenting vocals' turned out for the design decision.

"Silver Thaw" has many other names. The artist envisioned his work as "ice crystals", best be served at night. The mayor said these crystals look like "pick-up sticks". My public works friend calls these sticks "scaffolding". An elected official looked at the "scaffolding" and saw "reeds in water", or was it weeds? Which ever the plant, the Art appeared invasive to me. Councilman Jim Robinson denounced these "invasive weeds" publicly calling them "razor blades". Dallas, my 5th-grade lunch buddy at first said the razors were "cool" then seconds later called it "crazy". He was being complementary?

Dallas and other children are amazingly very much aware of Redmond's outdoor art. He noticed the "wind spinner art" at Redmond El. Prior to the oval Heron LOGO - years ago - Jessica Bushmyer, an elementary student drew a winning circular LOGO sketch. The Ives Administration cast off our youth culture to a Madison Avenue advertising company for a City brand. Last week I noticed a colorful new gateway to Bainbridge Island from the ferry landing. The gateway fencing was colored with children's art. Not to forget, future generations will be living with 'our' decisions. Together we make Redmond better.

Except for the faulty design of city council chambers, I'm finding our new city hall is cozier and more citizen-friendly each day. The Hall's professional and informed receptionist lends to a friendlier, less intimidating atmosphere. She pointed to a large, soft area rug by the fireplace and some fascinating volunteer art on display in the foyer. The echoing voices bouncing from high ceiling walls are less noticeable. Yes, the exterior glitzy 'artwork' invades the Hall....hopefully, one day only a vestigial remnant.

My biggest gripe about the Hall design are the chambers for council, commissioner and hearing examiner meetings. The layout is NOT public friendly. Cameras and microphones are manipulated to control what is seen and who sees it. It is most clear, staff asserts their full powers here. Next time you watch Redmond City TV Channel 21, look at where the public faces when addressing the city officials. The table seating is so poorly arranged that we public must talk to the BACKS of our audience. This seating layout is rude, disrespectful and unfair to the speaking public and the sitting officials. Yet, you will find staff is "front and center" in full view at all times! Some visitors have suggested removing the front rows of audience chairs to fix the problem. But, wouldn't that be too easy?! Next time you watch RCTV Channel 21 decide for yourself.

GATEWAYS: Last Wednesday marked the completion of the Planning Commission's formal discussions on "Gateways to Redmond". A citizen gave a 4 minute Items from the Audience about gateways. Stepping outside the box, he tried to describe a Digital Gateway for the city. A "Key" (computer) inserted into the Gate's "keyhole" (Redmond's website) http://redmond.gov/ would open the Door to Redmond's Digital Gateway. Digital Kiosks were proposed for mass transit stations, the library, City Hall as additional "Gateways".

Most commission talk centered around a physical map of potential gateway road entrances proposed by staff. Planning commissioner, Korby Parnell concluded the multi-session Gateway deliberations with the following comments. He 1) valued roadway gateways yet strongly recommended a "digital gateway", specifically the city website. 2) requested city council review and consider digital gateway(s) 3) recommended writing objective criteria to define gateway design, and 4) since the project had no immediate deadline he urged engagement of the public in sketching criteria for the locations and designs for our Gateways. He specifically recommended involving our elementary school children. Thank you, planning commission for your deliberations on gateways; I truly hope this participatory course is followed. (A Berger, Inc. consultant from Seattle later coined the Leary Ave. entrance as the "Old Town Gateway".... again with no known public input.)

LOGOS: My heart quickly moves me again to our new pre-ordained, heron city LOGO. I find it glitzy, a bit tricky, artificial. ...should I go on? What do you think about it? I would have posted a the heron LOGO "branding" image but, to be frank, I'm tired of looking at it. Herons don't even make their homes in Redmond anymore. The Leary "Heron Rockery" is sterile. The Heron we see now fly in from the nesting rookeries of Issaquah.

On several occasions, planning commissioners Snodgrass and Querry and probably others informally shared their distaste for the new LOGO. It's over-designed ... a "bird brained" design. The heron bird LOGO gives an appearance we are trying to fit our natural environment into our city, rather than the other way around. In fact, heron artwork now pops up all around town in some of the strangest places. Just look around. But, don't worry, the bird will find you. Just as staff creates heron art to replace our lost living "wader bird" they are now trying to create wetlands in our Parks to replace wild, function wetlands.

For a college project, I studied the behavior of the Great Blue Heron in an Ohio cranberry bog rookery and came to love and admire this magnificent wading bird. Redmond's glitzy new LOGO does not do this magnificent bird service.

Did you know, "The Great Blue" was written into Redmond's Development Guide 'law book' about two years ago? It was rubber-stamped by Council as our "Species of Local Importance". During Planning Commission review, the Great Blue Heron was already typed into the ordinance draft as Species of Local Importance, without any prior commissioner discussion! Now, I wonder who made that decision - staff and Ives. During the commission's **20+ sessions on Critical Areas Ordinance, the heron species was hardly discussed other than remarks by Martin about it being a SR520 "gateway" icon and it would receive "extra protections" as a species of local importance. In retrospect, 'extra protections' appear questionable and no laws- State or City - protect the bird. Fish & Wildlife has Guidelines for magagment of the bird and the City doesn't have to follow Guidlines and they don't.

** Sessions were prolonged for months to allow for as much project vesting as possible under the existing, less ecologically friendly Sensitive Area Ordinance.

On a similar note, during last year’s Redmond Critical Area public hearing, with some trepidation, my wife and I proposed "riparian" as our city's "Habitat of Local Importance". Priority riparian habitat is the rich, green ribbon of vegetation bordering our streams, lakes and wetlands. During my presentation, I suggested the green swirling line of old city LOGO (hanging above the council's heads) be considered 'riparian" in honor of our valuable and important city habitat. Council approved 'riparian' pending deliberation by the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission came to a contentious split decision after much vetting and hearing multiple presentations by the public. Commissioners K. Allen, S. Querry, and T. Hinman voted FOR 'riparian'. Guidance from the Mayor in an obscure staff memo encouraged Council to vote AGAINST 'riparian' . The final decision had to do with potential threats of riparian corridors to the development community; and because "local importance" designations are considered (a scary!) city law -- this, despite the "heron of importance" being passed as a law! ]
Shortly thereafter, the new & improved, funky, spiffy, right-on, cool, awesome, Dude! "heron-in-hiding logo" appeared on RC-TV, Focus, city stationery, public notices, municipal buildings, public works trucks, the city web site, city business cards...everywhere and out of nowhere! It's the 'out of nowhere' part that bothers and frightens me. Who made this LOGO decision? The Mayor obviously had a large part in it, possibly preparing a legacy?. Were citizens engaged in this critical decision of culture? NO! I don't recall the planning commission ever deliberating on it, only that several were upset with the LOGO. Worse case scenario is the LOGO art & design farmed out to consultants and staff. Think of the tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars that must have been spent on this thing. We deserve some answers and I imagine they'll be popping up soon.

THE ART COMMISSION'S STRATEGIC PLAN- our salvation ?

Have you ever met the Arts Commission -- a group of 9 citizen volunteers, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Council -- dedicated and passionate about furthering Art culture in our communities? I've seen the commission twice, both on TV 21. Both commission appearances were drastically different in form and substance. In the first telecast very few commissioners talked. An assertive staff member dominated and directed most of the commissioners' deliberations. I think I remember Chair Roy Leban, John Stilin, and Kay Tarapoisi doing most of the talking ; staff let the quieter commissioners mostly dangling. I can't remember what staff was goading and chiding them about. I vividly remember a preciously fun & entertaining guitar and song performance by creative commissioner Eva Moon. I have to tell you, Eva is one of my favorites and I hope to hear her perform at Victors or, some fortunate day, our own community art center on Cleveland Avenue.

A few weeks later the second telecast aired. Their meeting was well attended with Mayor Ives dressed in 'Redmond red' and all the council members but Mr. Robinson present. Mr Robinson, Chair of Parks & Art was probably out on Boeing business and his absence was noticeable. A Parks Recreation staff manager was present. She was more "parksy" than "artsy" but didn't take over the meeting like previous staff. She mentioned Parks is looking for a new advisor to assist the commission....I hope more sensitive and empathetic to the commission's temperament and needs.

The crux of the second meeting was a discussion of a new "strategic plan" for art designed to: 1) position the commission to be more proactive, 2) get them "moving ahead" towards seeing the "big picture", 3) utilize the city web site to increase communication & visibility, 4) encourage sub-committees support from citizen volunteers, 5) define values to insure commissioner continuity 6) create a vision statement.....

I barely heard John Stilin, a newer commissioner, read the commission's vision statement. It went something like "diverse arts opportunities are a principle reason why citizens love living here, why artists are attracted to live and work here, and why tourists visit Redmond." Council member Vache brought attention to this statement with high praise and commendation. Mayor Ives was pleased and suggested the commissioner’s vision statement and strategic plan be published on the city web site.
to be continued....