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Thursday, January 25, 2018

PUBLIC ART IN GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA

Public Art in Glendale is coming up for review and the meeting to discuss what the hired guns to figure things out have come up with has been changed from today to next week: Thursday, February 1, 2018.

With the recent expenditure of $18,500.00 paid to Scott Froschauer for his installation of twenty 'traffic' signs around town, it appears that the City of Glendale is serious about finding ways to direct income from new construction taxes here to be put to use.   The figure I heard was $5 Million! 

My goal has been to make sure that The Gas Station in Adams Square Mini-Park begins to be of more importance and that artists chosen to show there will be compensated appropriately.  In the past, the City required the artist him/her self to provide liability insurance and pay for all materials that were included in any installation, as well as any salaries they may have provided for helpers and, of course, their own compensation. 

A few years ago, with my last installation in The Gas Station, the City provided insurance, but there was no budget for the participating artists nor for the costs of installation.  Please copy and paste this link to see the results of that project.

 http://july4thgasstationproject.blogspot.com/

There is a prevailing attitude that artists do their work for the fun of it.. Which, for some may be true.  Currently, the 'installation' in The Gas Station is from a local school. It follows another school project coordinated by the Adams Hill Neighborhood Association.   

To attract professional artists, making the space a destination for even local world class artists like Kim Dingle and Kent Twitchell or even Richard Jackson, Nancy Rubins or Ed Ruscha to bring special installations, will require the respect of some kind of monetary compensation. 

As The Brand, under the aegis of Glendale Library / Arts and Culture, is also part of Glendale Parks and provides space and installation assistance, it seems logical to me that The Gas Station, also under the aegis of Glendale Library / Arts and Culture,  that commensurate attention should be considered.  

Funding is available.  Let's see what the study has to say and cross our fingers that there will be interest in The Gas Station and Adams Hill and South Glendale included in ideas to properly spend this windfall for public art.   

With the recent expansive installation commemorating Armenian heritage by Ara Oshagan on Central Park, I hope that a discussion about the impending changes to that park will be up for discussion at some point in the over all considerations for Public Art in Glendale.  Mr. Oshagan showed in no uncertain terms how this large open space is important for our city. 

Please attend the meeting next Thursday! 
Stay informed. Speak up!


WHEN: February 1st, 7:00-9:00 PM
Doors open at 6:30 PM
WHERE: Downtown Central Library Auditorium
Located at 222 E Harvard St, 2nd Floor

Free & open to all. Light refreshments & parking validation provided for the Marketplace Parking Structure (120 S Maryland Ave).

 

Saturday, January 20, 2018

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The issue of where to put the proposed museum to eliminate Central Park was not discussed Thursday night, nor will it be today, Saturday, 1/20/18 at 1PM in the Central Library in Glendale, California. There was no image of the proposed architecture on hand.  That seemed odd to me. (Addendum:  Today, Saturday, I brought a photo of the proposed museum and left it for attedees to see.)

After being strongly challenged by enthusiastic young women Thursday night over my opinions published recently here and, then, having had a very enlightening discussion with the leader of their group.. I went to a source that is often helpful to me.  This advice came up randomly and I'm taking it to heart. 
(Addendum:  I met the more vocal of the young  women mentioned above today and discussed that it's not nice to call people names, which I did in the heat of the moment on Thursday. It felt like we were basically okay and I asked her to deliver a gift that I'd made for the president of their group: a peace offering.)**

Chapter Twenty Two:
via Brian Browne Walker.. with thanks.

"Allow yourself to yield, and you can stay centered. 
Allow yourself to bend, and you will stay straight. 
Allow yourself to be empty, and you’ll get filled up. 
Allow yourself to be exhausted, and you’ll be renewed. 
Having little, you can receive much. 
Having much, you’ll just become confused.

Therefore the sage embraces the oneness 
and becomes a pattern for the whole world.
She doesn’t display herself, so she becomes illuminated. 
She doesn’t justify herself, so she becomes distinguished. 
She doesn’t boast, so she is recognized. 
She doesn’t claim credit, so she advances and endures.
She doesn’t contend, so no one can contend with her.

 'Yield and you can stay centered'
Is this saying meaningless? 
Stay whole, and all things return to you." 
Tao Te Ching / Laotzu

///
January 20, 2018 

**
The second meeting regarding the idea to build a museum on Central Park was a repeat of the 'sales pitch' that the planner who spoke on Thursday presented.  I brought along a photo of the proposed edifice and had time to ask a few people what they thought. The most interesting chat was with an attractive woman in her fifties. Her response to my showing her the rendering of the museum was borderline hostile.  She was the woman who spoke up on Thursday to compliment the planner who gave the pitch regarding the $80Million project to totally change the Central Park area to accommodate the museum.

The vibes emanating from this woman were unlike any that I've ever felt before. I did my best to just ask questions. However,  the feeling was that she'd quickly determined that I was totally wrong and as soon as she could excuse herself, she did.  

I've learned so much from 'tone.'  Tone of voice? Demeanor? Intelligence? Education? Charity? Love? The desire and ability to listen and engage in useful conversation?

The 'tone' that spews. and I use the term specifically.. spews.. from the president of the United States.. is so vile and off putting that I can't stand to hear his name and turn the radio and TV off when he is featured.  A similar feeling exuded from this woman, probably because I had been so very vocal and critical of the way the meeting was held on Thursday.  It made me sad.

We all have a specific persona that radiates from us, regardless of the situation. I'm sure my tone on Thursday was pretty hostile!  After reading and re-reading Chapter 22 of The Tao Te Ching (above) and making an effort to put that advice into practice..  I did my best to present the rendering neutrally. The meeting was salted with City employees and supporters and to a person, no one would give the rendering a total thumbs up.

One of the members of the planning team, a young woman who studied landscape architecture and planning (I think)  at Cal Poly Pomona, was totally engaging. Other than that she was enjoined from really having specific opinions, carried on a cogent and meaningful discussion with me. 

To reiterate: the second contact with the young  woman who was so upset by my former comments here, was cordial. She promised to deliver my gift to her friend.. whose name still escapes me.  Darn it.

If the community really doesn't care about this entire restructuring of this simple plot of grass, it's a shame that few others have risen to the battlements to question... (getting dramatic here!) and, at least made a comment in public. It is vital to involve the community in an open forum dedicated to a discussion. The meetings on Thursday and today were sales pitches that presumed that it's simply a very good idea to eliminate Central Park and spend tens of millions of dollars when our current situation serves our City in a simple and efficient way

Central Park is... simply...  just a meadow open to the sky.   
It is enough.

Let's find an alternative location for the museum project and Save Central Park's green grass and blue skies. An  enclosed space is walled in and open to the sun for a very limited time, as I noted driving up the burgeioning urban canyon of Brand Boulevard where the shadows of the afternoon fell over the street  Construction on Central Avenue creates similar shadows with the new high rise apartments rising there.

The planner tried to sell this museum/"rennovation"  idea with examples of Pershing Square (in the canyons of Los Angeless) and Rockefeller Center in NYC! It's a shame.

 The view from the upper floor of the Library, to the south, across the Park. is a pastoral scene .. the attractive woman with silver hair pointed out Colorado Street and the parking lot for the Elks' Club!..  Of course, with the museum there might fulfill the idea currently being considered for Central Park.

Will the City of Glendale have truly open forums to provide for folks in South Glendale the opportunity to have a voice, as it did for the residents up in North Glendale where the idea was rejected?  I truly hope so.  

Has anyone approached the National Guard regarding their corner at Louise and Colorado? It's huge! (to coin a phrase..)
1/20/18   
 

Saturday, January 6, 2018

SO LONG, JERRY VAN DYKE

News of the death of Jerry Van Dyke is sad, indeed. He was 86.   With reruns of COACH just showing up, you'll remember Jerry as the assistant coach to Craig T. Nelson.  Jerry was a huge talent in his own right, the younger brother of Dick, always playing a great second banana.

My personal memory of Jerry is intimate and at once sad and very funny.  Jerry shambled.  He walked as if the world and a bag of oats were on his shoulders.  Shambling.. 

Another actor many would know but not by name, Bob Ridgely, a really wonderfully talented guy.. died.  His memorial was held in the six hundred seat theater at the DGA in West Hollywood. In attendance were many of the 'second bananas' who had been the guys who made the first bananas funnier.  Jerry was one of them in the audience.. As the two hour memorial came to a close.. most of us in tears from laughing at the really funny stories that came from Ridgely's pals..  Jerry Van Dyke shambled all the way down the aisle to the stage from the back of the house.  He mounted the stage with a little difficulty.. and, stood in front of his peers and just shook his head and paused.

He sighed and then, looking out over the audience,  he said slowly.."Well...   I always thought that I was Bob's best friend!  But, evidently, everyone in this room thought so, too." (Indeed Ridgely had a way of being totally present with everyone he spoke with) "Well," Van Dyke said, "This is awkward...I feel just like the time I found out that my girlfriend had been fuckin' the entire football team!" He shambled back up the aisle to gales of laughter.

Jerry Van Dyke made a great living .. only slightly in the shadow of his older brother, Dick.. and wore his mantle with pride.  

Watch an episode of COACH and see what grace notes bring to make a funny sitcom even funnier. 

So long, Jerry. 

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

LA LOVES A CAR CHASE

NOON..  JANUARY 3, 2018

At least nine police vehicles, as many as  sixteen or more police officers, one fleeing "stolen" UHaul pickup with two people inside. Right front tire gone.. after a hard crash and loss of control, the truck comes to a grinding stop at 4th Street and Whittier in Montebello. 

'Stuff' is ejected from the cab of the truck and the helicopter shot from ABC7 news  shows employees of Montebello Chevrolet shooting video or photos on their cell phones. 

The narration by TV news is all speculation as the people in the truck bide their time with hand guns and rifles all pointed at them.

A K9 officer and dog position themselves. Cops warn curious pedestrians away. The intersection is blocked.

Our interest in these chases is pornographic, at least, to me..  We are drawn in by the possibility of a crash. Movie chases like The French Connection and Bullet and more recently, The Driver are thrilling and we, the audience .. get off on the movie versions.. thrilled.. and this translates directly to reality now filling the TV news.

A "law enforcement expert" commentator repeats himself as clueless news anchors repeat their questions.... here comes the SWAT tank! Stand off.

Without narrating the end of this event, it's an opportunity to present an idea that I've tried to present in the past.  Woman driver.. bizarre ending. In custody as the cops slam the woman into the side of their cruiser. She may have resisted? She was handcuffed as two large men made sure she was secure!

This is a stolen vehicle deal.  Now 14 vehicles on site.

Since this is about stolen property, there may be danger of weapons in the possession of the perpetrators, but it's a stolen truck! No mention of weapons.

I've asked in the past why.. in the case of stolen property and no report of weapons, why the police don't back totally off, allowing the perpetrator(s) to slow down and eventually feel that they can stop?  Monitor with a helicopter and keep ground units in a parallel course? 

Now we have as many as twenty or more officers and a growing number of black and white units ..at what cost?  An average LAPD cop earns over a three hundred dollars a day..  So.. for this event, we have cops off the street, all focused on these two criminals at the cost of more than a thousand dollars an hour.  

The TV news narration is dramatic and filled with hyperbole and speculation that often describe things that I could not see happening while watching the same images as the anchors.

To the point.. ..  I've often wondered why, at every police station in Los Angeles, there are not deployed one or two 'nondescript' retired cruisers that can be sent out to help stop chases like this? The idea of a big box truck or even a big rig available seems like an idea, too. Expendables?

If police cruisers and CHP cars are retired at a hundred thousand miles, they still have a lot of life left in them.  I know that they are sometimes used for non emergency transportation, like moving prisoners around, so they are available.

If ..say.. a dozen retired cruisers were repainted with a special number designation on top.. and if they were deployed at police stations where demographics show chases might be likely to occur, the police then roll the nondescript cars into the chase? Make them available to create a block or even with two cars with kevlar and bullet proof glass.. just squeeze the perpetrator to a stop? 

The goal, of course, is to reduce the high speed chases which endanger the public : lives as well as property.  The chase today ..driven by a combative woman... had one crash.  We have no idea if the driver of the unsuspecting truck that was crashed into was injured.  Of course, innocent folks have been killed. That's the worst outcome of a chase.  

Why not begin a program to give this suggestion a try? A dozen repurposed cars available to help bring fleeing cars to a more peaceful end; reduce crashes with innocent others? Save lives?

It's just a suggestion: Trained drivers: police officers.. in unmarked cars that are 'dispenseable?'.. Could it save one life? 

It's just a suggestion.  

Happy New Year.. 
2018..  michael sheehan