Council adopts long-awaited public art policy

By unanimous consent, the Sonoma City Council adopted a new public art policy at its Wednesday meeting.
Final approval of the actual ordinance will follow at a later meeting, but the council members all approved the 23-page report by the city’s Cultural Fine Arts Commission, setting forth a thorough Public Art Policy and Procedures. “Adoption of this policy is long overdue,” said council member Steve Barbose. “It is important that we brand ourselves as a community that appreciates the arts.”
Kathy Swett, executive director of the Sonoma Community Center and serving as chair of the fine arts commission, presented the committee’s recommendations during a study session held before the regular council meeting. “This policy,” she said, “establishes funding mechanisms, procedures, criteria, roles, and responsibilities for the administration and management of the City of Sonoma Public Art Program.”
Legal questions about monitoring public art policies and procedures were discussed at some length by the council. There are criteria about the art being “content-neutral” and not promoting any organized religion. The council itself will not have to decide the question, “What is the meaning of the art?” as a new design review committee will play an important part of deciding what art is put on display.
The new policy calls for a quarter of one percent of the city’s general fund to be designated each year toward creating or acquiring new public art, as well as maintaining the public artworks the city already has. “I’m excited about the idea of a public art process,” said councilmember Aug Sebastiani. “I have some concerns about the incendiary nature that art can have, and therefore we should incorporate a design review.”
Swett was pleased afterward, saying, “I understand the council’s concerns about the design review and am very happy with the results. We’ll see what happens with the second reading of the ordinance and how the budget plays out. Then we’ll start with an art plan and begin discussing locations. The city has been very positive throughout this whole process.”
Among other business, the council heard a presentation by Tina Panza, director of Safe Routes to Schools. She explained that 20 percent of morning traffic is parents driving kids to school, saying that in 1969 50 percent of students walked or rode bicycles to school while in 2001 only 15 percent did. The Safe Routes program contains “5Es”: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation. It has two main goals: where it is safe, to get youth walking and biking, and where it is not safe, to make it safe. Council member Joanne Sanders brought up the interesting point, asking, “Why are we encouraging long commutes to school in the valley? Why is Flowery a feeder school to Adele Harrison?”
The council also heard a report about the possibility of the Mountain or Valley cemeteries being eligible for listing on the National and California Registers of Historic Places. There was also discussion of “green burials,” in which bodies are buried with no embalming fluid and no vaults, using instead either a biodegradable casket or simply a shroud. The council commended the Friends of the Cemetery for their work with issues facing the cemeteries.
The council expressed interest in a Mills Act Program to encourage owners to maintain historical properties by providing a property tax reduction.
During final comments, council member Laurie Gallian expressed a plea for more public works projects, saying, “The stimulus is about to start coming down. There is a huge emphasis for projects to come forward in the county. Projects should be ‘shovel-ready.’”