Monday, August 11, 2008

My public service to jobless artists

***PUBLIC ART OPPORTUNITY, Gresham, Oregon***
DESCRIPTION

The Regional Arts & Culture Council in Portland, Oregon, invites artists/teams residing in the United States to submit qualifications to create multiple freestanding sculptures for the new Center for the Arts Community Plaza in Gresham, Oregon.

PROJECT BUDGET: The art budget is $175,000 including all related costs for design, fabrication and installation.


Power, water and drainage will be provided to the location of the art. The use of these utilities is at the discretion of the selected artist and should not be viewed as an expectation or requirement.


What makes this public art so special is that with the use of water and power it can waste our taxdollars long into the future.


I'm sure that the citizens of Gresham are very excited to get this sculpture. Maybe they can ride the crime infested MAX to go view it. It's not like that $175,000 could have hired a couple law enforcement officers to actually improve the livability of that city.

15 comments:

Scottiebill said...

Gresham's city leaders are apparently following Portland's example of spending money on this kind of junk rather than spend that money on things they actually need, such as more cops, or jail space, or street repairs, or whatever. Gresham, as well as Portland, obviously needs quite desperately, a major change of leadership.

Anonymous said...

Is there anything better than Miglavian irony?

There is no shortage of outrage over the relatively small amounts of monies that local governments allocate to sprucing up the environs with a little public art, but when it comes to fiscal decisions that really matter, Miglavia falls deafly silent.

The war in Iraq is estimated by economists to cost 3 TRILLION dollars when all is said and done (see Joseph Stiglitz's new book). Do you know how much of that we have paid for? $0. Do you know WHO is going to have to pay for that? My 22-month old daughter and her generation! What is more immoral than selling out the future of an entire generation of American children to finance an ill-conceived war that has done little more than serve as recruiting windfall for al Qaeda?

Can you guess the name of the first American president in history to cut taxes while America's sons and daughters are on the battlefield? Yep. W. This is unprecedented. All other major conflicts in US history have been paid for by American tax dollars via tax increases during war time. But the Bush administration didn't have the balls or the will to pay for the conflict. Now your and my children have no choice but to do it, and if that doesn't piss you off, then what kind of person must you be?

The next quarter of a century may be a very bleak period in American history. Nobody will be more responsible for the rapid free-fall of American power and influence than the Bush administration, which our foolish electorate put into office, twice.

None are more foolish than Miglavians.

Anonymous said...

Miglavs evidently would prefer that Portland look like Tigard. Or Beaverton. Or Lancaster Drive, in Salem. Or any number of other urban areas in the U.S. that look exactly the same.

I guess we don't have to speculate about what Miglavia looks like. Let me guess: There's a McDonalds at the entrance, followed by a Coldstone Creamery, followed by a Starbucks, followed by a Fred Meyer, followed by a Panda Express, followed by a ....

Etc.

Bobkatt said...

"Think Globally, Act Locally".

Anonymous said...

bobcat
if we could only get countries like china , etc.to do the same !

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love how conservatives claim to be pro-family values and "compassionate" towards children, but yet in just 8 years they've managed to saddle our youngest generation with a staggering amount of debt? Now that's really looking out for the kids, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

if the public art is copper , bronze etc it will be stolen promptly.
a bronze sculpture was stolen in Astoria Oregon , by a man with a decidedly latin sounding name.
This is just another sign of the US being a crappy third world country.
They did beautiful artwork to spruce up the bus stop by fred meyer in the Kenton area next to max. it is all filthy. I learned from living in St johns that you cant put lipstick on a pig. the best thing Gresham could do with that money would be to pass a strict Housing enforcement code with the power to board up properties that have been taken over by illegal aliens.

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:13 PM, I think you need to take a lesson on US government. It is also congress that spends a lot of our money. What about the SS funds that our government has raided and left an IOU. What about the money for medicare and medicaid? Why do you always blame one person. Do we live in a monarchy? I think not. 911 cost several hundred billion dollars from the actions on that day. Why are you not bitching at Clinton who could have killed Bin Laden and that would have also saved three thousand lives.

What if Saddam had let loose some WMD's in our country? How many lives and how much would that have cost?

Now, we have a base to bitchslap the Iranians too. It would have been more expensive to use other bases. Would you let the Iranians have nuke weapons? You would let them touch one of those off in our country rather then hit them first.

Anonymous said...

Look, there are bad people and governments in the world. This has always been and will probably always be the case. But if you mortgage your children's future in an effort to head off every potential threat, you categorically make your nation less safe and less stable anyway. Do you not understand that? As a result of this war and the huge debt we have incurred to fight it, we are in less of a position to defend ourselves to future threats.


How about this for a guideline for both W AND the Congress:

If you can't get your finances in order and avoid passing a huge debt onto the next generation, you can't go around starting wars and acting like the world's superpower...because you're not.

Anonymous said...

free mumia

Anonymous said...

Anon 1225: Oh puhleeeeeeease! Everyone knows that metal theft is the fave hobby of white meth junkies. Pick up any local paper on a weekly basis and more often than not the perps names are DECIDEDLY ANGLO. What the hell does that have to do with anything in the first place? More sweeping generalizations based on last names only. Does it get anymore pathetic? Miglavia: the kiddie pool of reasoned thinking.

WOODBURN — On July 17, Danny Packer, 53, of Hubbard, and Larry C. Mathews, 54, of Woodburn, were arrested and booked into the Marion County Jail on 50 Counts of theft I, and 50 counts of criminal mischief II.

The arrest stems from a report and investigation into the theft of over 300 Aluminum bleacher seats, 20 feet in length, from the Woodburn Dragstrip.

The 300 metal bleacher seats are valued near $40,000, according to track owner Jim Livingston.



Date Published to Web: 7/18/2008
AURORA — A routine traffic stop Tuesday afternoon in Aurora resulted in nearly 1,000 pounds of stolen metal, the confiscation of burglary tools and the arrest of two local residents on multiple charges related to metal theft.

Arrested was Mark Allen Fiet, 44, of Hubbard, on charges of theft I; two counts of criminal trespass II; possession of burglary tools and failure to maintain metal records. Also arrested was Sergei Cam, 42, of Gervais, on charges of theft by receiving and criminal trespass II.



Date Published to Web: 7/3/2006
WOODBURN -- Marion County Sheriff's Office detectives have made one arrest involving the theft of aluminum molding from a local farmer.
The stolen metal, valued at $4,500, is from a farm on Howell Prairie Road NE, in Woodburn, and police more arrests could be coming.
The Howell Prairie Road theft had been reported on Feb. 23.
On Tuesday (June 26) Michael David Bauman, 23, was arrested without incident at a Woodburn area business. Bauman was taken to the Marion County Jail and charged with theft first degree and conspiracy to commit theft.

It goes on and on and on... if white meth junkies would quit being the pathetic soul-less zombies that they are, then people who are "obviously illegal simply by the sound of their names" would be out of a job, now wouldn't they? If no one is around to buy the shit, they don't have a business. Simple.
By the way, my surname is Garcia. Am I legal or illegal? I'm just sure you know simply by the sound of my name. LMAO.

Anonymous said...

175,000 bucks????

Y'know, I've suddenly realized something. I'm an artist too! And for $175,000 I'll weld together a bunch of junk, and you can call it art, and then you can "show me the money"!

davidhamilton said...

I'm surprised Gresham isn't putting up a statue of some Latino hero.

Anonymous said...

Daniel, how much is the cost of the war in Iraq up to now? Any idea? Is this a concern of yours ... ?

Anonymous said...

How much did World War 2 cost?
In: History Politics and Society, World War 2, War and Military History [Edit]

Answer
Found an estimate of $288 Billion (in 1940s dollars) for the cost of WWII.


Answer
According to my Oxford Companion to WWII in strictly monetary terms here was the breakdown for the major players in their currencies:

UK-Pounds Sterling 20,500,000,000 US-$306,000,000,000 Germany-Reichmarks 414,000,000,000 Japan-Yen 174,000,000,000 Italy- Lire 278,500,000,000 USSR- Ruble 582,000,000,000

I'm not sure if the US figure even takes into acount the 50 billion in Lend lease aid that was given out.


Answer
The monetary cost to the U.S. was $288,000,000,000.


Answer
trillion dollars according to some other sites (trillion dollars total for Germany, EVERYONE involved including france, US, etc.)


Answer
$1.5 trillion


Answer
In today's money, the cost to the U.S. would be over five trillion dollars (at 288 billion 1945 dollars)

HELLO: WOW, THIS IS A CHEAP WAR THEN COMPARED TO WW2.

I know there 10:06 AM ANON war isn't very nice...it doesn't FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL GOOD EITHER.

The finging art is a pure waste of resources, look at it like this, you could have had another bike path...IDIOT!