At least some people in public office get it.
The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.
Staunton-Augusta Art Center, in association with Staunton Downtown Development Association, spent a year researching a set of guidelines to establish a public art commission for the city and use public funds to partially support the program.The proposal would have used public funds to install and maintain works similar to installations in Charlottesville, Richmond and hundreds of cities across the country. The works likely would be on short-term loan from artists.
During an informal work session poll, only Vice Mayor Dave Metz, who helped craft the proposal, supported it.
While some council members seemed interested in the concept, most cited First Amendment legal concerns about the subject matter of the artworks and reservations about the use of public money.
“I wonder how we can do this in a way that’s acceptable to residents of the city of Staunton, especially when we have so many pressing needs,” Bruce Elder said.
Frustrated supporters said after the meeting that most of council’s concerns had been answered by the proposal itself.
There are, apparently, some people in public office that “get it”. Well, almost, anyway. At least they see that spending even more money, especially on supporting starving artists, is not a valid use of public funds.