HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/21/2020 Item 15, Grady
Purrington, Teresa
From:John Grady <johngrady5@yahoo.com>
Sent:Monday, January 20, 2020 6:55 PM
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Agenda item 15 - Public Art
Dear Mayor & Council members,
I most strongly oppose Item 15 on your January 21, 2020 council meeting agenda that would ban any public art
recognizing or memorializing an individual.
This is a completely unnecessary ordinance and a blatant overreach of your authority. I believe it infringes upon our
residents' freedom of speech and is a preposterous idea - stemming primarily from the mayor's opposition to a proposed
statue honoring President Theodore Roosevelt.
There has been no public outreach and discussion on this matter, contrary to the mayor's espoused commitment during
her first campaign to engage and involve our city's residents in your deliberations of city business. And to my knowledge,
this issue never saw the light of day through any of our city's advisory bodies, such as the Cultural Heritage Committee or
the City Planning Commission. Why not? Might it be because you feared the public outcry at this proposal should they
become aware of it? I've heard no discussion on this topic since last August when you first entertained the topic, and
you're now suddenly ready to ram this through with little public discussion as the last agenda item late at night.
If one or more of you opposes the Teddy Roosevelt memorial that's fine ... let's have a review and discussion of its merits
and faults. But please don't ban ALL public art memorializing individuals. This is frankly ludicrous and is akin to throwing
out the baby with the bathwater. Do you suppose you're so much smarter than the 47,541 city residents you represent
that you should make the decision for the rest of us that until the end of time NO ONE is or ever will be worthy of public
recognition? What you have before you on Tuesday night is a solution in search of a problem.
I urge you to please have a reality check and vote NO on this issue. Instead, come up with a review process to vet future
public art projects through our advisory bodies and through the city council, but don't simply ban ALL public art
recognizing a noteworthy individual. This is totally unnecessary and is an overreach of your authority as OUR
representatives on the city council.
Thank you.
John Grady
San Luis Obispo, CA
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