ARTS ACTION NEEDED NOW!--UPDATE Dear Arts Supporter,
Please contact City Council member as soon as possible and request he or she support Mayor Rybaks proposed public art budget. Last week the Ways & Means Committee of the City Council reduced the Mayors proposed budget for public art by 50%. You can locate your City Council Member at this web site: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/. Please forward this email to other arts supporters you know. Details: Last week the Ways & Means Committee in a process called budget mark-down reduced the Mayors proposed budget of 2% for public art to 1%, and moved the remaining $200,000 to Public Works to do environmental improvements, public art, pedestrian improvements, or to leverage funds for projects conducted collaboratively with other jurisdictions. The members of the Ways & Means Committee who voted to reduce the Art in Public Places Program were Barbara Johnson, Sandy Colvin Roy, Natalie Johnson Lee, Dan Niziolek, and Barrett Lane. Paul Zerby voted no. Paul Ostrow and Gary Schiff were present and spoke against the motion, but they are not members of the committee, and therefore did not vote. CM Benson spoke in favor of reducing the budget. (Note that CM Lane left office on Friday and was replaced by Betsy Hodges.) Talking Points: Support the Mayors proposed 2% for public art, as this is consistent with the strategies outlined in the approved cultural plan. The proposed strategy of moving half of the public art budget into Public Works, would be contrary to the Cultural Plan and current public art policy and would be an inefficient way to develop and maintain public art projects. The Full Council will be voting on this Committees recommendation this month, so please contact your Council Member as soon as possible. Thank you. Katie Nyberg Chair, Minneapolis Arts Commission Advocacy Committee Posted by Connie Beckers, Folwell Neighborhood REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
