Council picks art for McEuen entry

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s official. “Allium Spring Chorus” will be the sculpture at the Third Street entrance to McEuen Park after the City Council voted in a classic 4-3 split to approve it Tuesday evening.

Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission member Jennifer Drake, who chaired the selection committee, and Steve Anthony, recreation director for the city, presented the council with recommendations.

The piece went through a rigorous selection process that eliminated 179 other proposals, Drake told the council.

“Of the four finalists, this one did have the most No. 1 votes from all the public comments, and several pages worth of people just commenting,” Drake said. “And there were a number of negative comments as well.”

Councilman Mike Kennedy said he hears two major criticisms from constituents about the public art selection. The first is, ‘why isn’t the city using local artists,’ and the other is ‘why aren’t the pieces themed to reflect our history and culture.’

Drake said that by going outside the local area, the Arts Commission gets a more diverse set of proposals. She said most artists have a certain style and by opening things up to the same handful of artists, all of the public art begins to take on a similar look.

“The great thing about art is that no matter where you are from, you probably have a different opinion about art,” she said. “A lot of people like seeing varied things that may remind them of somewhere else.”

Anthony clarified that a goal of the arts commission is to build a diverse collection of art in the city, and there is a lot of culturally themed public art, as well as some of the stylistic pieces.

“Steve, I think you mentioned that art is in the eye of the beholder,” said Councilman Ron Edinger. “I would have liked to have seen something with more historical value than this one.”

Edinger said he was going to vote against the piece.

Councilmen Dan Gookin and Steve Adams both agreed with Edinger. Gookin said he was also concerned that the design may collect trash and may cause a maintenance issue.

Adams said he understands that the money was budgeted for art, but he wondered why it could not have been spent on landscaping and trees instead.

“I was just thinking, originally all I remember was chain saw art. A tree would come down and get carved into a bear or a little critter or something,” Councilman Woody McEvers said. “Art has always been a weird one for me. Some people like it some people don’t, but you guys have preached it long enough: If you are talking about it, it’s doing its job.”

McEvers, Councilwoman Deanna Goodlander and Kennedy voted for the sculpture, and Gookin, Adams and Edinger voted against it. Mayor Sandi Bloem split the tie with a vote in favor of the sculpture.

In other business the council decided unanimously — while Bloem recused herself — to focus next year’s sidewalk repair program on downtown sidewalks. The program was started in 2007 to bring the city’s sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

It plans to spend $300,000 on the project with a $70,000 match from Lake City Development Corp. and $30,000 from the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association.

The council also approved plans to pursue a new pocket park and dog park in the Riverstone development. The parks will be built by Whitewater Investment, which is building affordable housing nearby.

Both the dog park and a new educational park that will be xeriscaped with native plants that need very little water. There also will be a gazebo to house an interpretive area that will explain all of the plants and how to care for them.

Goodlander was the only council member to vote against the project, saying she felt the park was too remote and could have problems with vandalism.