Airport chief wants to ground art costs
Officials call for $8 million cap on works in new Terminal B
By Ed Fletcher -
efletcher@sacbee.com
Last Updated 2:39 pm PST Friday, November 16, 2007
As plans for a $1.2 billion expansion of Sacramento International Airport inch forward, controversy is brewing on how much should be spent on its public art component.
For the first time, the county Board of Supervisors is being asked to deviate from a strict formula dictating how much should be set aside when work starts on the new Terminal B project.
County airport officials are asking for a lesser amount, saying the $8 million they recommend is still the largest public art commitment in county history.
"We think we have a prudent, robust art budget," airports director Hardy Acree told the joint city and county Art in Public Places Committee this week. "We are trying to be responsible to all parties involved."
He said the amount is acceptable to the airlines, which will pay for the bulk of the project.
Art committee members, however, expressed disappointment at the challenge to the formula.
A Sacramento County ordinance stipulates that 2 percent of public projects' total construction costs should be spent on art. County supervisors have the power to deviate from the formula, but haven't since the ordinance was adopted in 1983. The art share was 1 percent until 1997, when it was increased to 2 percent.
Airport officials have not disclosed what the Terminal B art share would be under the 2 percent rule. At its September meeting, the Art in Public Places Committee was told that 40 percent to 50 percent of the $1.2 billion would apply to the actual construction budget. They were told the ordinance doesn't apply to roadways, airplane aprons, as well as planning and design, and furnishings. Still, under that scenario, the art share could be as high as $12 million.
Many communities in the United States commit 1 percent to 2 percent to public art projects, said Liesel Fenner, manager of public art for Americans for the Arts. She said it's atypical for communities to break from a formula.
Barbara Goldstein, the public art program director for the city of San Jose's Office of Cultural Affairs said Sacramento County should on principle stick to the formula.
"You want to create special places in the airport so people know where they are," Goldstein said. "It's something that makes that airport experience more pleasurable. Airports are a place people are under a lot of stress. ... There is a lot a waiting. It is one of the places where you want to have a good art program."
Acree said the airport worked out the $8 million figure with the airlines, senior county staff and Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission staff, who oversee the publicly appointed panel.
Acree has been under pressure from the airlines to cut costs.
Not all of the $8 million would be spent directly on art. About $2 million would be used to create an endowment to pay ongoing expenses and care of airport art exhibits. About $1 million would be spent on administrative costs over the next five years. That would leave $5 million for new art.
Previous projects at the airport – including the recently constructed parking structure at Terminal A – adhered to the 2 percent formula.
Brian Goggin's "Samson" – two high-rising stacks of suitcases and luggage in the baggage claim area of Terminal A – has been popular with visitors and residents alike.
And 12 giant stainless-steel birds flying around the roadway and parking garage are hard to miss. "Flying Gardens" is the title of the quirky colorful bird sculpture created by artist Dennis Oppenheim of New York.
Les Birleson, a committee member, worried that underfunded art projects would have less impact in the 675,000 square feet of new terminal space.
"I don't want to sound ungrateful; $8 million is a lot of money," Birleson said. But, he added, "it's a huge space. Art is going to get lost in there unless it's on a huge scale."
Member Susan Selix said the committee should have been brought in earlier, and its members, not staff, should have helped shape the art budget.
In addition, she said any art budget should reflect real construction costs, after change orders come in.
It's unclear whether the Board of Supervisors will accept the smaller art budget.
Supervisor Jimmie Yee said he supports the $8 million number.
"No one in their right mind thought there would be a project of this size," Yee said. "Not going by the 2 percent formula seems to be reasonable. There is still $8 million in there."
But Supervisor Roger Dickinson, who helped increase the public art formula from 1 percent to 2 percent, said the county should stick to its guns.
"I would prefer that we maintain faith with the 2 percent," Dickinson said. "The airport is one of the principal showplaces for our community."
The new Terminal B will be a huge leap from the existing facility. The centerpiece of the airport expansion is a three-story, glass-walled central terminal, with a high-rise hotel above. The new terminal would be connected by tram to a new jet concourse.
The proposal to cap the art expenditure at $8 million got mixed reviews at the airport Thursday.
Bill McCausland, who lives in San Diego but does business in Sacramento, said his favorite thing about the airport was the ease of use: "easy in, easy out."
"I don't think too many people are worried about the art."
Kathy Neely of El Dorado Hills said $8 million sounded about right to her. "I agree with the airport," she said, as she made her way along Oakland artist Seyed Alavi's custom carpet depicting the Sacramento River that covers a pedestrian bridge linking the parking garage to Terminal A.
But Tiffany Dreyer, who spent long enough to eat a bagel and drink a cup of coffee waiting for a colleague near the ticketing area, said more should be spent.
"I think it's definitely needed," Dreyer said. "I think, if anything, it should be more than 2 percent."