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If you ever wonder why the cost of housing is so expensive,
part of the reason is because of all these silly taxes our government
masters force us to pay.
In this case the royal rulers on the Scottsdale City Council just increased the cost of housing in Scottsdale by 1 percent by passing this silly "art tax". I wonder, does this one percent "art tax" which forces people to pay for art they don't want violate the 1st Amendment by forcing people to pay for "art" speech they don't want or disagree with??? I know a number of legal experts say the traffic fines which go to the Arizona "Clean Elections" Department violate the First Amendment for that reason. I wonder why the royal rulers of Scottsdale passed this silly tax? Does Mayor W.J. "Jim" Lane have a brother who is in the art business and will get the business created by this silly new law??? Or maybe it is Scottsdale City Council members Lisa M Borowsky, Suzanne Klapp, Robert Littlefield, Ron McCullagh, Linda Milhaven, or Dennis Robbins have relatives in the art business and passed this silly law to create millions of dollars of revenue for the family "art" business.
On the other hand it is just as likely that the royals rulers of the
city Scottsdale received Scottsdale housing projects must provide art By Sonja Haller The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:56 PM Developers of apartment and condominium projects in downtown Scottsdale will be required to contribute to public-art projects as a condition of approval, under an updated Cultural Improvement Program the city has adopted. The City Council recently modified its Cultural Improvement Program as part of updates to the zoning ordinance that governs the downtown district. The modifications include incorporating a public-art requirement as a condition for zoning approval for new multifamily residential developments in the downtown area after Dec.31. Large-scale developers already are required to provide public art equal to at least 1 percent of a project’s cost or pay an in-lieu fee equal to one-half of the required percent. The change broadens the requirement to incorporate all multifamily residential developments in the area. Single-family homes and smaller developments are excluded. In addition, developers may now agree to stipulations suggested by city officials and approved by the City Council to provide private artwork for new, large-scale construction outside the downtown area. The change comes as Scottsdale Public Art, which oversees the city’s public-art program, awaits finalization of its master plan. Future funding has been a key issue for Public Art. Donna Isaac, Scottsdale Public Art associate director, said she cannot quantify the impact the changes may have on funding Public Art, since it’s contingent on an uptick in city development. “It remains to be seen,” Isaac said. “But it is important we look outside downtown to incorporate art where we can. Establishing that relationship is important, and we hope developers will see the value in it.” Improving current avenues and finding new ways to fund Public Art has been an issue for several years. Public Art officials had hoped city officials would consider raising the “percent for art” requirement to 2 percent, but that was not considered by the City Council. That suggestion was one of many included in a draft of Public Art’s master plan to improve diminishing funding, which took a hit during the slump in construction caused by the recession. The master plan, designed to ensure the award-winning program’s success for the next 10 years, began 2/1 years ago. But it stalled in 2011 after becoming contentious over a consultant’s recommendation that Public Art separate from its private, non-profit governing body, the Scottsdale Cultural Council. The master plan is expected to gain final approval by the Scottsdale Cultural Council sometime early next year. Though the Cultural Council is a private entity, it receives about 40 percent of its annual funding in public money from the city. Isaac said many of the short-term master-plan suggestions, such as creating more temporary exhibits and events, already are being adopted. In November, Scottsdale Public Art hosted a joint event with Salt River Project on the Scottsdale Waterfront called Canal Convergence. More than 5,000 people attended over two days, exceeding the estimated 2,000 visitors expected. Scottsdale Public Art is planning to grow the event into a larger, signature event in the coming years. The event featured more than 20 exhibits including a floating and glowing sculpture in the canal, an interactive alley of aluminum “trees” that emitted colored light, and a large-scale laser-image projection. The cost of staging the event was about $120,000. Artist Christy Puetz, who created the community installation “Sparkly Fish” for the event, said one of the highlights was Mary Lucking’s “Amur Serenade.” That exhibit, which continues through the holidays, features computer-generated fish that respond to sound and appear to swim below the canal bridge. “Two young boys were singing a rap they made up into the microphone, making the fish projection dance wildly,” Puetz said. “Very cool! I hope it will become a yearly event, it really brought awareness of the canal and diversity of local artists.” Interim Public Art Director Dick Hayslip said that’s the kind of event that lends itself to gaining corporate and private sponsorship. Hayslip said Public Art continues to study methods for possible fundraising like its sister organizations, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Both organizations have employees dedicated to raising money for those institutions. Currently, Public Art is funded entirely by Scottsdale. But sponsorship for events to draw people into Scottsdale is something Public Art is poised to pursue now, he said. “There will always be a place for permanent pieces of art, but the whole field of public art is in transition toward more events and more temporary pieces,” he said. ValerieVadala Homer, who led high-profile public-art projects, such as Robert Indiana’s “Love” sculpture and Loop 101’s Pima Freeway art, for almost 25 years, resigned in September. The search for a new director won’t begin in earnest until after the first of the year, said Hayslip, who is not applying for the job. |