Politics & Government

City Staff Asks Public Art Plan Be Nixed at Recycling Center

City staff is asking the El Cerrito Arts and Culture Commission to jettison a public art plan for $24,000 worth of artistic shelves and gates at the Recycling Center in favor of a yet-to-be-defined artwork elsewhere in the city.

A city plan to install "functional artworks" to fulfill the required public art component of the new should be scrapped and replaced by a dedicated artwork elsewhere in the city, city staff says in a report to the Arts and Culture Commission.

The staff proposal is on the commission's agenda for its 7 p.m. meeting tonight, May 16, at City Hall.

The commission in February approved the staff proposal for a $24,000 commission to artists for "functional artworks" in form of shelves for the Exchange Zone (where users can trade books and other used items) and gates for the compost/mulch area.

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A call to artists was issued, but only one qualified proposal was received. At its monthly meeting in April, the commission voted to reissue the call for artists in hopes of attracting more competition.

But now staff is asking the panel to abandon the functional artworks idea, in part because the shelves and gates are needed soon to accommodate the larger-than-expected public use of the Recycling Center, according to the staff report to the commission. (The report is attached to this article.)

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"The Exchange Zone has filled up and is already being completely utilized (soon than anticipated), creating the need for additional shelving very soon," the report says. "The mulch and compost has been very popular, and harder to monitor than was anticipated – these need to be gated soon for operational and safety reasons.'

So instead, the report says, "it may be more beneficial to consider a public artwork that shares the message of the Recycling Center at an off-site location, not at the new Center."

"Staff would like to see a distinct project that reflects the values of the City of El Cerrito’s environmental quality efforts and the mission of the Center at an off-site location (one example would be on the Ohlone Greenway near the Schmidt Lane intersection) instead of at the Center," the report says. "Environmental Services Division Staff would like to work with the ACC (Arts and Culture Commission) to develop a new concept for the public artwork funded by the Center’s contribution to the Public Art Fund."

The city needs to come up with a public art project for the new Recycling Center to comply with the city's Art in Public Places law, adopted by the City Council in 2005. The ordinance says new city or private projects costing $250,000 or more must devote at least one percent of the development costs to public art. (It is Chapter 13.50 in the city's Municipal Code.)

Another public art project developed under the law is the recently approved plan to place on San Pablo Avenue. 

The new Recycling and Environmental Resource Center, which replaced the city's aging 40-year-old former Recycling Center on Schmidt Lane, .

Also on the arts commission agenda tonight:

  • Peace poles: The commission will consider a proposal from Al Miller to install "peace poles" bearing messages of peace in different languages on the Ohlone Greenway. Some examples can be seen here.
  • El Cerrito Free Folk Festival: The annual in October, held previously at Windrush School, is moving because . The commission will review a proposal to hold it at Harding Elementary School.
  • City Hall Gallery Space: The commission will consider artist applications for the rotating exhibit on the at City Hall.


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