It's Time to Chalk It Up Again

Eric Fredericks • Friday August 29, 2008

One of my favorite events in Sacramento is taking place this weekend in Fremont Park– Chalk it Up! Please make sure you check out their website and stop by the event!!

I shot the photo above during the 2006 event. To see more photos, see my Chalk It Up Gallery.

 

Category: Public Art •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments

Day 19: Nittany Lion Shrine - State College, PA

Eric Fredericks • Friday July 20, 2007

State College is a great college town tucked away in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania, and is home to Penn State University. It is one of the beautiful, quaint small towns that you associate with the Eastern United States. It always makes it near the top of best places to live list, and was recently named the best place to live for singles by Money Magazine.

The Nittany Lion Shrine, pictured above, is an incredibly popular icon of the Penn State campus. People are constantly lined up to get their picture taken in front of the shrine. I really liked the way this photo turned out.

Interstate 99 expansion is severely threatening the quaintness of the valley. There’s already sprawl occurring along the interchanges. State College is already pretty auto-oriented, but new developments have bike lanes and good access to transit—something that is not often seen outside the West Coast.

The downtown is quite nice but also includes student-oriented bars and restaurants. You can see more of State College in the photo gallery. I’ve included an honorable mention photo of one of their information kiosks after the jump. >>Continue Reading This Article>>

 

Category: Public Art •• Region: Pennsylvania •• comments

Tampa Debating City-Wide Public Art Fee for Developers

Eric Fredericks • Sunday November 27, 2005

Many cities across the country have instituted fees for developers on projects, usually a certain percentage of the total development costs. Tampa, Florida is no different, according to a Susan Thurston article in the City Times edition of the St. Petersburg Times. Tampa mandates that developers of projects in the downtown’s central business district set aside either 0.75 percent of the total project cost for public art, or give 0.5 percent to the city’s public art fund. Currently, the maximum cost to developers is $200,000.

The city has explored expanding the boundaries to the entire city, raising developers’ contributions to 1 percent, and abolishing the cost cap. Instead, the City Council ended up approving a cap increase of $400,000 and a slight boundary expansion to include commercial and multi-family projects in the Channel District. This is not enough, according to Thurston. She writes that the message the City Council sent was: “Yes, we like public art, but we don’t want to upset our developer friends.” Fortunately for Tampa, the issue is still up for debate.

I chose to write about this article for two reasons. One, to highlight the importance of public art in communities and how requiring a percentage of development costs set aside for public art can help bring more to your community. And second, that we need media personnel like Susan Thurston to bring these issues to the public’s attention – with a positive spin. Please read her article because it offers some great insight on the matter. So many times quality of life issues get bashed by the media – oftentimes because it involves an expansion of “Big Brother” or a raise in taxes. Also, I would encourage you to find your media champion, that person who will always put a positive spin on your livable communities projects. The media plays such an important role in the politics of projects because they can reach such a wide audience. While many in the bike/ped profession may want to stay out of the spotlight when it comes to political issues, it is our duty to make the public aware of how they can benefit from these projects. And the media is perhaps our most valuable resource.

 

Category: Public Art •• Region: Tampa •• Comments

Portland's Innovative Residents Reclaim the Streets

Eric Fredericks • Tuesday October 18, 2005

This is one of the most interesting projects I have ever come across, and I cannot wait to visit Portland someday and see it. The idea is for citizens to reclaim the streets as public places and not just auto-zones. The project, called Intersection Repair, is best explained by their website:

How do you create a public square out of an intersection?

The community works together to make the place special. They make it a place where people want to go to, where they feel safe and welcome. They make it beautiful and interesting. They make it meaningful, an expression of their own local culture.

Is it just painting the street, or something more?

Each Intersection Repair project is the work of neighborhood residents. It is the people who live in the neighborhood who decide that they want the public square, what it will look like, how it will function and how it will develop. One neighborhood may paint a giant mural on the intersection and stop there. Another may go through many phases: painting the street, installing a community bulletin board, building a mini-cafe on a corner, reconstructing the intersection with brick and cobblestones, opening businesses to make it a village center… and on and on!

Does this close the street to cars?

No. Many public squares throughout the world are in fact shared by cars and pedestrians. These spaces are designed in ways that make drivers move more slowly and expect pedestrians. Such design is one of the goals of an Intersection Repair.

Why would a neighborhood want an Intersection Repair?

It depends – each one is different. Maybe people want a focal point for their neighborhood, a place for community interaction and seasonal celebrations. Maybe they want to slow down traffic, and let pedestrians share the public space of the road equally with cars.

Check out the website and the photos of some of the projects happening in Portland. Unfortunately, there are not many places where this would fly with local NIMBIES... I mean residents, engineers, elected officials, and even planners. I guess all of us hippies need to move to Portland.

Read how it all got started with the Moon-Day T-Hows (Monday Tea House). Also, read the brochure and model city ordinance.

 

Category: Public Art •• Region: Portland •• Comments

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