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Art For Public SakeTo the Editor, Regarding Chris Limberis' "The 3 Rs..." (August 13): I would like to correct some of the information that appeared in the interview with Ken Marcus.
Under the Bond Improvement Plan passed on May 20, 1997 and the Transportation Bond Improvement Plan passed November 4, 1997, the 1 percent for public art totals $5,849,900. Of that $5.8 million, 10 percent will be allocated for art-based youth development and delinquency prevention programs to be administered by Pima County Community Resources. Therefore, the total set-aside for public art under these bond plans is $5,264,910, not $8 million. Not all of the projects occurring under the bond plans will have public art components, but we anticipate over 50 public art projects will be created during the 10-12 years of the bonds. This is a huge return for a small expenditure of monies in order to make our community a more attractive place in which to work and live. The vision and the imagination of artists in public art projects enhances our natural environment, our community and our neighborhoods. Even though the Public Art Policy calls for the Tucson/Pima Arts Council (TPAC) to be reimbursed up to 10 percent for its administrative costs, TPAC has always requested reimbursement at a rate of 7 percent in the past. --Jane M. Hallett, Chair
Public Art & Community Design Committee
Blurred VisionTo the Editor, Regarding Chris Limberis' "Vision Quest" (August 20): Vision High School is for all children, with a primary emphasis on addressing the educational needs of Native American children. More than 50 percent of the enrolled students are from the Tohono O'Odham and Yaqui tribes. These tribes are very supportive of Vision High School. Also, there is a Tohono O'Odham member on the Vision High School Governing Board, and several Yaqui community members are in the process of joining the Board. The local Indian Community has always been in full support of Vision High School. The sources behind this article have lost focus on the priority of the mission of Vision High School, which is to offer a successful educational experience for youth, especially the Native American children who have historically been inadequately served by the educational system.
In terms of taxpayer money, all public schools are fed by tax revenues. Is the point of this article to mislead the public into believing that their tax money is being misspent at Vision High School? It is the public, including Native American communities, who emphasize quality education for its children. Vision High School is well prepared to operate a quality alternative educational opportunity. People need to know the facts concerning the sources that are undermining this unique opportunity presented to our children. The real victims in this article are the children. They are the Vision of Our Future.
--Miguel J. Cardenas
Editor's note: Vision High School leaders conveniently add or delete the name of their student representative on the Vision board. For the record, this Tohono O'odham student is not listed among member of the Vision board on Vision's incorporation papers filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Also, in Limberis' article, there was never the slightest hint that the intent of Vision High School was not a good one.
Water WorksTo the Editor, Kay Sather got me off my butt, literally. Sather's "Bountiful Harvest" (August 20), detailing the ways people harvest water in our community, inspired me to grab a shovel, look around my yard and start moving dirt. So much of what we read today depresses. We know we've messed up but the solutions seem so big and so hard that nothing we do as individuals could possibly make a difference. Sather's writing matters because it gives us solutions. She shows us ways people are making it right in their own yards, like the brothers who divert water from their roof and the street for their trees and garden, and in larger ways, like developer Dave Taggett, who builds rainwater storage systems into the homes he builds, or Barbara Rose, who'll teach developers and homeowners how they can use the water where it falls the way she has on her land where she's harvested 900,000 gallons of water a year. Most important, Sather showed these solutions are within the reach of all of us. What if someone in government read this piece and actually began a process to made new developments incorporate the economically and ecologically sound techniques people like Barbara Rose employ? Great writing does more than inform--it inspires action and helps to begin to change things for the better. Thanks to Sather for writing it and The Weekly for publishing it! --Marge Pellegrino We Want Letters! Thrilled by our brilliant insights? Sick of our mean-spirited attacks? Need to make something perfectly clear? Write: tucsonweekly@tucsonweekly.com
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The new Pima County Public Art Policy was adopted by the Board
of Supervisors on June 16, 1998. In it the mandatory set-aside
of 1 percent for public art applies to capital improvement projects
in Facilities Management, Transportation, Flood Control, Airports
and Parks and Recreation. Exempted were Cultural Resources, Neighborhood
Reinvestment, Wastewater Management and Solid Waste Management.
The 1 percent set-aside for Wastewater Management and Solid Waste
Management will be used for environmental enhancement projects
and not for public art. However, the design teams for these projects
will include artists.
Pima Community College has been in full support of the project
since the original application in 1996. Pima College understands
the importance of supporting projects that will enhance the education
of Native American children who, as a fact, face high rates of
high-school drop-out, low academic success, and low college enrollment.
Pima Community College is dedicated to fostering quality education
for all children in the community and they are willing to work
with Vision High School as a partner in this goal.