I watched the meeting tonight online, there were great questions and good answers. WATCH REPLAY.
I think the officers present did their best to lay out a plan. I also understand that it is these officer’s jobs to have a plan and explain it to the public. But many in attendance were wondering where the Police Chief and Mayor were? The peeps I talked to who were there said they didn’t see them. Even if they would have been sitting in the audience, their presence would have been appreciated.
Say what you will about former Mayor Bowlcut and Bucktooth, but you damn well know he would have been there . . . of course he would have never had the meeting because he blamed increased crime on increased population.
There was over 300 people at the event. All councilors were present except Selberg and Brekke.
As a fine artist and graphic artist I have been asked to do some unusual projects. Most of the time, you are asked to sell something. I told a frequent SculptureWalk artist last year that was kind of the purpose of SW, to promote Downtown and sell more beer and pizza. He didn’t take kindly to my words. I’ve gotten to do some fun projects like creating logos and t-shirt art for Jazzfest or designing posters for ZombieWalk and the SF Roller Dollz. Most of the time, these projects are not only fun, but for the betterment of the community, then I read this;
Erica Beck, chief of staff in the mayor’s office, said the TenHaken administration is taking “more intentional focus” on culture and arts through all of downtown, including murals.
The south side of the city’s new parking ramp, which faces one of the busiest thoroughfares downtown and sits on the busiest corner in the neighborhood, is an ideal candidate for a mural, she said.
I have been very vocal for years that DTSF needs to implement a public art/mural program. I have even went so far to say that spending millions on one sculpture was shortsighted and the money could have been more wisely spent on implementing hundreds of small art projects and murals downtown. Where I draw the line is when government wants to use the talents of artists to essentially cover up a massive mistake. If we paint a mural on one the most incompetent decisions our city government has ever made, what kind of message are we sending to the public and artists? When government screws the pooch, we’ll just paint over it?
If the city chooses to spend a large chunk of money on a mural for the bunker ramp (something that could cost between $30-60K) we are sending the wrong message to taxpayers. What’s next? A mural on the Denty to cover up the bad siding?
I think we should leave the ugly Southside of the bunker ramp ‘as is’ for a constant reminder of how badly things can get when our supposed leaders are not paying attention. In fact, I think we should paint the names of the city councilors, mayors, and city employees responsible for this huge mistake.
A more appropriate solution would be a temporary large scale banner wrap, you could even make it cost neutral by selling advertising on it or to put out important public service announcements, historical images or even just artistic in nature. While they used to be quite expensive, they are very reasonable these days.
It was pointed out to me that the parking lot at Kenny Anderson Community Center has been torn up this summer, so I am curious where people are going to park tomorrow night at the town hall meeting.
I also wonder if Governor Noem will be invited to the meeting since she thought it was so wise to sign in a concealed weapon law this past legislative session?
I went down and looked at the viewing platform yesterday, this guy had to climb over quite a few rocks and obstacles to get here. I’m more concerned about the health problems he may encounter from eating fish from the Big Poo then from falling in. The signs (posted in several locations) says, ‘NO RIVER ACCESS BEYOND THIS POINT.’
l3wis 
