 All right so we need to get started. I know people have things to do later today so if you could please move forward to meeting. Trace and Prius will get started on their presentation. It's great. I think everybody's coming. There's some chairs up front that aren't taken so if you would like to sit down you don't have the seat yet. I think there's some facilities too. So we called this meeting and arranged it because we had been hearing a lot of different responses from residents in the area and we felt it was important that everyone involved in this process got to hear the feedback from the public and that since it's a public space and a public park that there's a good public input process we really appreciate that Trace and Prius decided to work with us on that and make this presentation today. We have representation from the parks department here. Tony's birthday is back there. It's with a banana. It's here from parks and there are ultimately new signs off on this agreement between Trace and Prius and the city of Cardiff is calling to help as I understand. So he's back there. Can we bring him back? I don't think so. Okay so and then we have several board members of Trace and Prius that I'll let Anson go ahead and introduce here as well. Can we make sure they introduce themselves? Thank you. Don't feel free to move on in here. And could you make sure that you just introduce the rest of the board members who are here from Trace and Prius? Absolutely. So my name is Anson Seal. I'm an artist. I live here in town. I used to live in Mankey Park about three blocks that way on Iro. And now I live about three blocks that way on Burrow. So we have some other board members here. Daniel Lazarine. Most of you know I think. And Louis Tarver is here in the front row. He is the founder of Trace and Prius along with John Wood who's not here today. And Marshall Steves is there in the back. So I have a list of the rest of the board members that are in this handout. I only have four more of these handouts. This is quite a crowd. But there are a lot of them floating around. And a lot of the information I think is duplicated in the handout that you just got the other one. Yeah. So I'm going to go ahead and talk about what our vision is and how we got started and where we think we're going to go from here. And there will be plenty of time for questions at the end. So welcome to San Antonio 1968. Hemisphere was a fantastic thing for the city. And you can't see it very well because of the light. There was a ton of public art in Hemisphere in 1968. Fabulous art from all over the world. After the fair was over, much of it was returned to the owners and galleries. Some of it fell into disrepair. And this particular piece was by Bill Bristow, my old professor at Trinity. And he's still around. But the birds kind of got picked off one at a time. And so nobody was really in charge of that or taking care of the art. This piece was the poster. I mean, even famous artists were in charge of the graphics for Hemisphere. This is Robert Indiana, you know, his work from the love sculpture. Which there was a copy of that at the McNay, I think, for a while. Maybe he's still there. It's the love with the oh. It was the postage stamp, the very famous one. Robert Indiana. I mean, he did the poster. So this piece you've seen at the McNay is a big black piece. It's a, you know, crosses. And it stands at the McNay, very large. Probably 12 feet high, 14 feet high. That's a copy. The original was at Hemisphere. And it was actually cut up to make barbecue pits. So, you know, knowing this history about how the public art in San Antonio just kind of fritters away and dissolves if you don't have some kind of cohesive mechanism to keep it in place and to keep it alive and to keep people informed about the public art, it's pretty disappointing that we had all these world-class sculptures in San Antonio and we're left with just a few handful that are in private hands or have to be recreated. So these are some of our aspirational pictures. So this is artwork that we would love to have in San Antonio. This is the type of quality that we're talking about. You may recognize some of these names. Richard Sarah, George Rickey, who has also a piece at the McNay. That's the piece in the pond that's a kinetic piece and it's kind of silver and it moves back and forth with the wind. This is Barbara Hepworth, who has really, really interesting things. I think there's something in the McNay also first inside. Trinity has one. Andy Goldsworth. I don't know how well this is going to show up, but it's a stone wall that meanders through the countryside upstate New York in a sculpture park there. It just meanders and goes between the trees and down into lakes and back up on the other side. It's a very engaging work. With a real respect for nature, I think. And this is one by Richard Long. This is a slate, I believe, arranged in a circle on the ground. So these pieces are quite expensive and we are planning to raise the money to either lease or purchase or commission pieces like this. Here's another one, Ursula von Ribbetsgaard. She just had a talk at Trinity University. Amazing works and if you want to see more of these, please go online and look them up. So other comparable sculpture parks that we've been looking at around Texas and around the country, Bee Cave Sculpture Park, Laguna Gloria, both in Austin, the Texas Sculpture Garden in Frisco, and the Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden in Houston are some comparable things that we've been looking at. Here's the acreage of all those, 7 acres, 14, 4 acres, 1.5 acres. And then there's the Mineal Park in Houston, which is a good example of art that exists in a neighborhood with bungalows and craftsmen architecture. It's very similar to Mankey Park. And then of course, here's Mankey Park. It's 13.6 acres, really a very wide expanse and we think it's perfect for just letting art work and having a natural environment. I mean, the natural environment of Mankey Park is something that drew us to choose this place and we would never do anything to diminish the natural environment. We're not talking about cutting down trees or anything. We want to place a sculpture with respect to nature in the park. So our first effort, as you know, is Catherine Lee up at the top of the hill. And I just wanted to give you a little insight into the process that we used to place that. She looks really mean in this picture but she's really a very nice person. We visit her studio. Her studio is in Wimberley, Texas. And she lived in New York for many, many years. Really is world famous and is in a tremendous number of collections around the world. We did site planning with architects. We met with the board, the Mankey Park board, showed these to Catherine and gave her some input on where we wanted to do where she thought, you know, how these pieces should be arranged. As you know, there's four sculptures, so this is kind of the plan for that. And we did some Photoshop rendering. They show up very well here by then. The pieces as placed now look different than the Photoshop renderings but this was a way for us to visualize how it was going to look. And then installation day came and we had board concrete puddings in the irregular shape of the sculptures and leveled them so that they'd be right with the kind of tilting landscape up there at the top. It doesn't tilt as much as it does when you get further down the hill but still uneven. And then there was a big crane. We came to move them in with straps. And this is what we have today. You can see them much better up there at the top of the hill. There were some setbacks, however. We had installed lighting in all the sculptures and we found that the lighting wasn't really very effective. It was kind of low powered. So we took all those down, bought new lights and put them back up, which was a big improvement. But then apparently the mowers came by. They didn't see the lights. They just creamed them. I mean, really whacked all of them. So we don't think it was vandalism. It could have been vandalism. But the damage to the lights was such that it looked like it was a one shot deal and they just flew out of the ground. And then somebody had taken them and grouped them and put them together with the sculpture. So it was vandalism. You think they pull them up and take them home. And also when we were preparing for the opening, we were going to have an opening of the sculpture, Catherine Lee broke her arm. So that kind of set us back. We didn't think we could do a good opening for that. So anyway, there have been some setbacks and we do still intend to put signage up there. We're working on a prototype of that right now. But it's not quite ready for prime time. So I wanted to give you a little preview of the pending installations that we have. James Searle, a very well known sculptor from Texas. He lives in Colorado most of the time. But he is from Texas and there's a piece of his downtown near the library in the new circle roundabout that you can put out there and drive around and see. These are some other things of his work. They're quite naturalistic, floral. So we thought that that would really go well with the wildflowers in the park. This is the actual sculpture. It's being loaned to us, some term loaned by the Galveston Rockport Arts Center. Big difference. The Rockport Center for the Arts was damaged in the Hurricane Harvey and the sculpture was slightly damaged. So it's been completely restored now, and it's outercoded and it's waiting for installation here in the park. This is in the handout that you've got. I think there's a map and I've got some more here if somebody didn't get one. But it shows the different locations that we have outlined for inclusion of the artworks, both major artworks and minor artworks. And areas, no-go areas, for example, for the flowers, for the wildflowers. So the Searls is slated to go into this spot right here, which I think is right across the street from George Grimes' house, up here on this side. It has footings, concrete footings, that'll be placed. So the sculpture stuff will stand up as far off the ground and I think it's seven feet tall. It's not a huge sculpture, but it's white and I think it'll be nicely visible against the greenery of the park. And these are three very small sculptures by Jesus Morales, who's from Corpus Christi. And if you don't know the work of Jesus Morales, it's all granite. He died several years ago. But his family was quite a prominent family in Corpus Christi because they had a monument company and they would do gravestones. So that's how he got started. Through his whole life he continued to include his family in the process of doing the sculptures. He is also white, a well-known sculpture around the United States and perhaps internationally. His work is included in many, many important collections. I told you they're small, they could actually be used for seating. The generous donor who would like to give us these sculptures said that she and her children would often play on them and they're slightly kinetic. In other words, they rock a little bit back and forth. So we'd like to include them near the walkway so people could rest, look at them, learn something about Jesus Morales, and also take a rest on some art. So to finish up, we would like to make some pledges to the Mancubar Neighborhood Association. And they're listed in this handout but I'll read them here to you. We pledge to curate artworks of the highest quality from local, national, and international artists. Number two, to create and maintain a master plan for placement of the artworks in the park. Number three, to protect the wildflowers and the ecosystem of the park as a whole. To closely manage the number and placement of the sculptures in the park. And we have determined that between 17 and 25 sculptures is a good range for the amount of acreage that we have here. To coordinate with the parks department on access and other park improvements. Five and six sort of go together here. And also, number six, to help be a catalyst and to collaborate with the city for any desired improvements. Like lighting, permanent lighting, sidewalk improvements, that sort of thing. Those are things that we can't accomplish on our own nor would we want to. But that really is a more permanent part of the park. And number seven, to always communicate with the Mankey Park Ambulance Association our plans and our timelines for any significant events. Like installations, de-installations, openings, etc. So this is our email address. Our hope is that you would communicate among yourselves and with the Board of the Neighborhood Association and then please bring us any concerns that you have. This is a working document that we've brought here today. And we look forward to working with you to address any concerns that you might have going forward. Thank you, Anson, for that presentation. Come up for a few minutes and just talk a little bit about how these sorts of processes work and the role of parks in them. Oh, of course, absolutely. That's great. Good morning. I'm Jimmy LaFleur. I'm the Public Art Manager with the City of San Antonio's Arts and Culture Department. I'm also a Mankey Park resident of Claremont. And also my parents, my mother lived at this house right here on the corner and she grew up in Fort Sam. So I've been spending a lot of time with her as she's in her 80s remembering the past of her growing up in this neighborhood and just really pleased to be part of this neighborhood. And that's another element of context of introducing myself to all of you since I've only been living here for about a year. So the tricenturious group has been working for many, many years. In fact, Louis Tarver has served as a volunteer as the chair of the City's Public Art Board for many years. And this vision is something that he has talked about and developed a group, a really amazing group of artists and art patrons. So the concept I'm very familiar with, their process of trying to identify the best possible location has led them to Mankey Park. And up to this past year, our role had been essentially trying to make sure that the parks department was meeting with all of them and understanding what would be their responsibilities, what liability would the city be taking on versus what the tricenturious foundation would be taking on. And then making sure that they were being communicating and getting the feedback from the neighborhood associations. As that has been the process up to today, we've also made sure that we presented to the City's Arts Commission and their Public Art Committee as a briefing item. There hasn't been any vote or action to bless or to approve this because up to this point, even with the Catherine Lees, they're on loan. It's a temporary process, but we've been quite aware that the ambitions is to have a master plan and to try to work closely with the neighborhood, botanical gardens, the parks department, and really connect the community and all of the kind of assets that are here in the neighborhood. So up to this point, we've been advocates and feeling that we like to see community-based projects come to life. And we're certainly, I'm here in a professional as well as a neighborly capacity to kind of offer whatever service I can. Happy to take any questions as any of them. First of all, Fred, can everybody hear back there? Let's use my ear. I'm not a great master of ceremonies. I appreciate Jimmy kind of stepping in on my behalf. I'm with Park Projects. I'm a landscape architect with... Anybody asleep? Just come closer to us. So again, I'm new with the city, relatively new. About a year, I'm a landscape architect in Park Projects and I'm here to hear what y'all have to say about this project. I had to bird to Jimmy because he knows the history of this much better than I. But I'm glad to be here with you this morning. I grew up in San Antonio, not far from here. Off the sculpture garden... Fred, you're going to have to stand up and face people. I can bear it. Off the sculpture garden that you mentioned in your presentation, what was the land use prior to the time they were sculptured gardens? I don't know. Daniel, do you know? No, I didn't have time to go into that great of a detail when we were starting to come up with these precedents. We were looking mainly at the acreage and the amount of sculptures on them because that was one of the biggest concerns that we had heard coming in to the meeting. So, Mankey Park is the correct size to fit your needs. Is that basically why Mankey Park was chosen? Mankey Park is the size that it is. We don't have any needs. We are fitting, you know, if we come up with a number of sculptures, we're trying to respect what Mankey Park, how it exists today. My question would be, does your organization know the history of this park and how it was dedicated and what its purpose was? Yes, we're very well aware of all of the intricacies and misconceptions about the park as well. What do you think they are? I think that this is a public park and really the only concrete thing that is written about the park is in the Mankey Park Master Plan where it states that it would... one of the goals is to keep or maintain the naturalness of the park and we don't feel that what we're doing violates that. And also in the Master Plan where public art is recommended for Mankey Park and parks are noted as a place for these public art installations. Okay, well, just in my opinion, it's a designated natural area. These are man-made objects and therefore they're not natural parts. Right, but it's not designated a natural area. That's the difference between these. I just want to make that clear. Thank you. So, we're a population society and we actually went through the paperwork and in the deed it just has to remain open to the public space. We got to simplification rewarding. I was surprised at that because I thought that it also included where it had to stay wild or natural, but it can't be fenced off or blocked off. But we've always wanted it natural so it's not a violation of the deed that gave it to the city, but it is... the neighbors have always wanted it and... I don't... I hate being an art critic. I don't think a white wire thing looks that natural. I love the stone, I love the metal at the top of the hill. At first I thought it was like polished granite blocks when they first started putting them in. I was surprised that it turned out to be metal. I loved it. But then like on the little mocahetes, they're too small, they ought to be grouped. You know, there's... One thing, light in the middle of the night is not natural. It's not at all. The idea of spotlights on the sculptures, I find it questionable how many people are going to actually drive by in the middle of the night and need to see a sculpture lit up. I don't want lights ever, period, not a bit. Not even little ones. I think our street lighting around here is too much and we don't need more. Those are terrible things. And... This seems like it's not. I thought I was more... going to be more against it. I've got to say, I'm thrilled that the city has somebody monitoring the quality of we won't ever waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on something God awful like that. What's her name? Oh gosh, I can't think of the name of that. Stainless steel head. And... No, no, no. The thing that was supposed to go was San Pedro Creek. San Pedro Creek Park. I'll think of it in a minute. Anyhow, and then we had other things that one time somebody gave the city of San Antonio something that was downtown at Market and Alamo Plaza and they couldn't get them to take it back. It was a Dallas art and it looked like, and there's no polite way to say it, it looked like a dog turd I would have taken my dog to the vet if I'd ever found that in the backyard. It was a blob, a tall blue-brown blob with random Lego colored things sticking out. We can be sure that nothing like that will ever happen again or Plathora is the name of that abomination but I'm just really thrilled that the city is going to monitor the quality. I think that's one of the promises answered right of you guys. Okay, I have another question. Let me let somebody else do it. Go ahead. Okay. So two parts. What do you all decide on the liability of who's going to be responsible and how are you going to keep it safe as a mother of children who will immediately try to climb that wildflower sculpture because it looks like a jungle gym or touch the hot metal or smush their fingers underneath that slightly undulating giant rock. What's going to happen and what are any precautions being taken? Well, you know, from what I understand and I haven't been a party to the agreement between Trent Centaurious and the Parks Department but my understanding is that the Parks Department and correct me if I'm wrong you may not even know but this is my clearest understanding is that there are a lot of, let's say sports, that allow for sports facilities to take place in which they put up goal posts, they put up exporting equipment and the Parks Department does not own it but they allow it effectively to have others have their equipment and their stuff out into the park but they have to be completely responsible for it and so the city is responsible for, you know, for our public space so if somebody climbs up on this tree and falls off they're not going to cut all the trees down but it could be very, it could be dangerous but that's a public use and a public realm issue in this regard we have publicly funded sculptures that we sometimes put out in public space that technically could be climbable and we try to use our due diligence to not put anything that we feel like would be unsafe so any artwork that might be coming as a proposal has to be looked at from that perspective and that's something that the Parks Department and everyone will kind of look really closely at and it's something that has come to our attention as well and so we have to look at everything from whether it's safely put in and safely installed and then safe in general but we also have to kind of make it clear that the city is interested in having art in public places that it's going to have to be something that can't just make everything become a monolithic you know, cube there's that but there's also art that's functional you can make a natural item that is permanent like a 3D crosswalk that could be functional and art we're across the street from a school so not making that more important having people be able to see art seems counterintuitive like you're dressed to go to the wrong party here I mean and that's one thing I will say kudos to the neighborhood association for getting everybody here together to hear everybody's thoughts about this because I think it's really important that everyone understand what people's concerns are and the fact that you're bringing them up helps us weigh those concerns in a really realistic way so just quickly I am an English teacher so words matter to me and your presentation which was lovely you were using verbs that indicate that you're putting these bad boys in here which is great for you but we're three questions in and we haven't had a solid answer yet so I'm concerned maybe the planning process needs to be put back in your court and you come back with some actual logistics that are going to answer our questions that's my concern which question do you feel have an answer we haven't heard who's actually going to be responsible for the safety of our neighborhood kids on these art projects which on the flip side of that which she didn't bring up who's going to protect the art so if something happens to the art that's our responsibility they're fully insured by Trace and Jury so are we responsible for our kids then so we do have a precedent for public art in other art we have playgrounds you know it's a similar issue with playgrounds and we just installed at pierce all parka a ninja warrior obstacle course and it comes with a degree of danger and it's open to kids well the city that would be a liability for the city if it falls over but it's designed to not fall over I'm the father of two young ones myself we have to be reasonable the same thing that you're referring to can happen with the trees that are here already a child can climb the tree and fall down go in that tree's bed and get the five snakes you can get so much of the wild flowers that grow so tall here I would never let my kids run in the wild flowers for this thing and I love it, don't give me wrong but I'm supportive of that but to be honest with you I love that these kids over here are going to actually be able to come out and learn something from this environment and from culture I think that's a really beautiful thing to do for them years ago they wanted to shut this school down it wouldn't have even been here if it wasn't for the good people who said we gotta keep our little our school here so that this neighborhood lives a lot of people, families would have to move down I mean when I drive in and there's like all the school buses picking up all the kids and you don't always see kids a lot I'll be honest with you do you see kids a lot on the weekends out here? No but when the school bus comes and the kids this tall getting on buses to go someplace and there's dozens of them that live in this area dozens of them and you wouldn't know it if it wasn't for this school and the neighborhood school so I'm excited for these guys it's good for them they need stuff I have two questions one I'm curious about I get the infrastructure that's needed for these pieces like the concrete faces like what you'll actually be installing in the park and the permanency of that or having it uninstalled and really what that would entail for each of these pieces and also just concerning your organization I was curious about what other parks have been explored stick it in my mouth what other parks have been explored in the city y'all have mentioned Hemisphere and I guess some kind of tie in between Trice and Tenniel and your organization but I'm just wondering like what other parks have been looked at so the way we started out was looking at Hemisphere when they tore down the convention center there was going to be a large green area and that was our original focus the forces that be in Hemisphere and developers and so forth they weren't really that interested in having the sculpture part so then we looked at Travis Park for various reasons that was not going to be good we've looked at Maverick Park we're moving up Broadway now Maverick Park where the old train used to be didn't get much love on that I think the city was going to put in a dog park which still hasn't happened but maybe it's still on the books I don't know and Maverick Park was the next our next choice and concerning the footings we are considering those to be semi-permanent in other words they're heavy they're staked into the ground with rebar but they could definitely be picked up with a forklift and hauled off you know when it's time to return like I said the Catherine Lee sculptures are on a three year loan hey Maverick Park has the last natural standing and the largest natural standing in the skis in the city this is it this is the last stand and I don't want to see anything going underneath the treat area in other words when you guys have sculpture and it's city sculpture it's generally in a park situation it's manicured it's green and in a hard escape around it there is not enough hard escape to actually have these sculptures give you you know visual rest for the eye you know a little delight because all this is a delight without the sculpture and if you start bringing in trains and have the equipment to load in and load out I'm really worried about the damage that's going to be done especially under any of these areas that are treated in our mosquitos that area out there where it's pastoral and vacant and flat that would be a lovely delight to have something there but nothing should go underneath these areas with these old oaks and especially the mosquitos if I could interject not protesting your point about sculptures under the trees here but we actually do have a precedent at the parks department for having public art in not just civic or manicured spaces as you've described just last year we installed some lovely 12-14 foot flower sculptures at McAllister Park and they're in a very natural area under a canopy in a flood plain and they actually have an educational element to them and that they indicate levels of floods, previous floods we're also planning an art installation at Comanche Lookout and so we do have a precedent for having public art in a variety of city parks but the precedent should not endanger the natural greenery that is here already we don't want to anytime you dig underneath one of these large oaks, you're hitting the oaks and you're endangering the entire moch, you know, root moch that is underneath and joins all of these trees there is no place where there isn't something underneath you're going to have difficulty finding something you guys have a conservationist that you work with well, I mean I think one of the perfect partners is and always will be the parks department and everybody involved is up and anything that would become an issue or is an issue has to be thoroughly vetted before any action takes place and I don't know you want to naturalist or well, we have a variety of staff that we call upon we have our I don't think that they're going yet certainly anything that it's a good question it's something we should address if anything involving highest and best you don't go too far with your anything don't underestimate your influence on the city of san Antonio and the parks department I am in my professional capacity nothing you're saying is not the same thing for Tony and I'm here because if no one is going to especially the director the parks department say keep moving if this is what they're hearing you've got to make sure that we do not you know we're not asking for a blanket endorsement we're truly wanting to understand what to do and what not to do and I think that there's going to be a balance of opinion for people that really like the opportunity for some artwork to be here and some who adamantly don't and so it is a matter of trying to understand how to try to accomplish the greater good and really understand what is good what is best for the park and the project up there has been done and that is a fact and we're not at a ribbon cutting we're at a neighborhood meeting there is the company there is the company at the base of the park oh yes, correct it's at the well side it's in the left but yeah who goes and looks at it that's the best of by the way clean and wax the bronze manky bust earlier this year so we do maintain some art I'll like to tie into that right quick I went to the June meeting the first one when they put in the first one up the hill the neighbor all it was was in a newsletter that's how we found out about it was in the newsletter there was one statue group going up at the top then when I go to the June meeting you say you have identified eight spots for artworks I'm assuming that you're going to put in eight artworks now you're saying 25 do you have a number I have a painting that's awful dense that's a lot of statues in this park are you going to stop we're just going to keep on putting more and more art in it until you're satisfied I need a number the number is 17 to 25 that's the first I heard it yes we appreciate that you did address that because we will have an ongoing discussion about that it was unclear when they said if I identified eight spots I was assuming I could maybe stand eight more pieces now you're up to 25 and I'm starting to think that's a lot of art there's strictly an art that I'm not particularly fond of I pretty don't like it's all abstract if you like abstract art that's great it's not all abstract because it hasn't been chosen the ones so far have been abstract the first five are I'm just assuming here again alright so we have another question from George a quick question I'm really glad to see people from the city here and I need to ask a question I asked at the neighborhood association meeting in June and that is how has this process conformed with the city's guidelines for public participation and what is the city's role not the neighborhood association's role in pulling people together but the city's role under what was passed by city council on public participation and how do you guys plan to address that going forward well so we do have policies in place for publicly funded public art on public property we do not necessarily have the same measure of management over projects when they're being done by private funds we do make sure that any project whether it's being done with any department or any property go through a public process and so briefings if a briefing or an action needs to be taken we have monthly meetings of the public art committee those also are recommendations that are made to the San Antonio arts commission which have mayor and city council appointed positions so everything that we have in terms of public space and public art are subject to that process and that's where the briefing up to this point had been made to the public art committee about the project and about the parks department and the Tres Centurias developing relationship and up to our knowledge also we've been listening to what is the feedback from the neighborhood and one of the reasons why we're here today is to try to understand moving forward how are we going to get consensus and support and what kind of level of public participation is coming from the residents and I think that honestly there's a vision of from the Tres Centurias group for what they would like to see happen but that vision takes participation from neighborhood what's the city's responsibility the city's responsibility on a public space to make sure that citizens are engaged as per the guidelines passed by city council what's the city's responsibility and what are you guys going to do that people are informed about this are allowed to participate and not just informed about what they're going to do yeah well I think that we have a developing project right now we have one installation and we have a kind of developing agreement of one piece and one installation so far and there's a vision for more and so I kind of talked to Anson and many of the others who engage the neighborhood the parks department even potentially think about there's art in the garden and botanical gardens and there's also the Brackenridge Park and their conservancy and so all of this needs to be thought of together with a lot of maybe a more structured relationship than our loose you know kind of what a loose relationship has started I don't know the public art committee meeting is that is that an open meeting? yeah, okay the first Tuesday of every month and then the arts commissions are the second Tuesday so we will always be presenting our projects to the public art committee and those are open meetings so anybody is allowed to join what about the san Antonio art commission that's the second Tuesday of every month as well that's the umbrella organization and there's the parks and recreation advisory board those may be brief and asked to weigh in on this and like I said before this is our first opportunity to really get the residents to speak directly to the organization and to city representatives and we want to have something that is understanding what's best for the neighborhood as well as for the city's parks microphone, once they recognize George I'm George Grimes, I live on Harlem, I've lived here for a long time and I am strongly in favor of this proposal I like art I sometimes go to the McNay or the San Antonio Museum of art to see art I've traveled all over the United States and part to look at art you know, paintings and sculptures and sculpture gardens and sculptures and art and I would be delighted to have more art right across the street from me in this park that I can enjoy and our neighbors can enjoy so so this is both a comment and a question I am currently the president of the neighborhood association and the way that we found out this information about the public art committee and the San Antonio Arts Commission and how this process works is because we realized that people were a very mixed opinion and that wasn't being acknowledged in a very structured way where we could understand that feedback was sought or being listened to so because I asked we got the information about what the process was and I would just like to point out that in these situations that are more of a hybrid public-private partnership thing where public funds are not used for the whole process that just like for land use issues, zoning, board of adjustment hearings there's a formal process now for informing the community making sure they have the opportunity to provide feedback even in situations where public funds aren't being used for the entirety of the project it's really important to release that information have it available because otherwise people feel like they're not informed and they don't know what's going on unless they happen to have other committed neighbors or community members who go to the trouble of asking so just a comment and if possible could you please email the neighborhood association information about when those meetings are being held so we can release it to anyone in the community who chooses to attend first of all I agree with George I like the idea of the art but I don't want paths going from one structure to the other also I don't like the light idea and are is this going to be a live display once you put something down is it there forever? from my understanding the first project was on a three-year loan and so after that period it could go away and maybe something else or some other plan and up to this point and I think Tony would agree there's been no discussion of changing the park with lights or sidewalks or paths none of that has been approved I think that the only action was this temporary artwork which from my understanding there probably been more I think we had understood maybe more feedback had been gathered from the neighborhood than what we're listening to today so I think we certainly want the feedback to happen before the plans are made and I think we want to try to appeal to the type of park that is currently here and what people want to continue to see here and if that includes art installations then it's going to be also those art installations that have been agreed upon so my question is just if you have any information on how this increases like external foot traffic outside of the neighborhoods when these types of things go in like in this park we have a very like gentle amount of traffic through the actual nature park which doesn't really create a lot of impact like people just walking their dog once in a while into the park and then out how would this how would this affect people coming in from the parking in the neighborhood maybe bringing maybe other events in do you have any information or like from other places that have similar situations what kind of traffic does it bring in from outside I don't I mean honestly but I kind of hear what your question is leading towards and is it meant to draw people in so that they kind of hang out here or just come at and picture see it or is it like are more people going to want to come park walk their dog and does it create like a more of an impact on the inside of the park does it matter I mean I think part of the question is there is a neighborhood plan and I think that the park needs to start to understand how does the character of the park work with any changes that might be affected by adding more art and making sure that it's done maybe in kind of a gradual way so that we don't find an unwelcome surprise by like having you know maybe you know just feeling like the aesthetic of the park has been lost because of way too many added like in other areas like for example in Houston where they have the and it's around a neighborhood I've only been there once I don't know what it's like to live there or anything like that but do events happen there because of these sculptures does it do you understand what I'm saying like does it cause people to want to spend more time within that park or is it just for people that are visiting to see the art sculptures from out of town you know we don't have any plans to put on anything other than perhaps an opening before the artwork you know how much traffic does that bring you know that's not in our plans we're about the art and there it's a good question there may be some issues that we have to that we have to address in terms of parking and things like that but I don't think it's going to be a huge influx of you know traffic through the park but the Whittingian and visit the Bay and visit the Botanical Gardens aren't going to want to come and visit our park because of the art well that's what I mean that's what I'm saying the Parks Department would advocate that too I mean we like to see people visit our parks but I certainly don't envision hordes of people tramping across the park to see a few sculptures more than a few I don't know if it's a question so much of a statement because a lot of my questions have been answered as people have been asking them but there tends to be in these kinds of things the idea that here there is nothing and you're putting in something yeah, thanks Mary and I just want to reiterate the value of a natural area, I mean you say natural area which is slightly different from nature but just as far as like having that respite from the rest of the city having a space where kids can like the role of nature and playing in nature in kids developing brains is really something that we're learning about more now and my kids play in the park as is they climb the trees digging the dirt and I think that's really valuable and while I do I don't hate the art I like the sculptures at the top of the hill I really don't want to see the whole park filled up with art and the wild flowers and natural areas sort of hoarding off in their own little reservations I get that you like keeping the natural area but when we're talking about so when we're talking about you know adding lights and adding sidewalks and stuff I feel like we're sort of nibbling away at the edges of what this park is now and I'm thinking also like 15-20 years down the road is that going to be are we going to make inroads that people are then going to use to develop even further and the one actual question I left is like when these pieces, when their lease is up what happens then are you going to bring in additional new pieces or are they going to get taken away and ones that are here permanently how do we make sure how long in the future do we have a plan for maintaining them so what happens to the pieces like in Hemisphere like you were talking about I don't want like a sculpture covered in weeds and graffiti 20 years down the road that nobody's taken care of well that's why we've organized Texas Nonprofit Corporation so that it exists beyond all of our lifetimes passed on from one generation to another I feel like there's a way to move forward with some artwork and still be respectful of this natural area I actually approve of the way that it was set up at the top of the hill we already have freedom grove up there with the flagpole with the via stop there's already lights there that via stop has to be lit anyway I think having sculptures up there where people can see it as they enter the gardens as they come out of the gardens as they are waiting for the bus that's fantastic they actually really support that at the bottom of the hill where we have all those palm trees and then we have another bus stop there we found it another good place to put public art in the central sort of wild area that we have preserved here I think having a bunch of artwork dotting this area is going to really change the nature of what we have here in the park and that's what I keep hearing from everybody else so just my comment everybody's got an opinion and I sorry I don't want to have we thought about like if we're talking about the park in Houston that's a neighborhood we thought about enlisting the pocket parks that was a question from my end of the neighborhood too if small pieces could be put in it would be perfect yeah the pocket parks are people drive past they're close they're just off of Broadway and the use is limited because there's for it, for our art workers that's definitely something that we've talked about getting into this natural area ideally your input on what to do and where to do is very valuable and like if this were to be a politically funded project out of our office you know we would be pretty much in lock step I have to say even from the beginning in the process of this is a little different that these are the individuals that are raising the money and putting the time together to do this as a project that's being done as a private nonprofit project and so I can't speak on their behalf so therefore I can't tell them in any direction as a city they can do their projects or not do their projects and what I can say is that we can make sure that the public is responding to what they want and I think that that's where the parks department comes in is that they don't have park lunch authority to install works they're going to have to get approval from the parks department on every single piece the parks department is the parks department you know a significant thing so what you're saying is we don't have to say on anything the parks department has final say well I think I believe the parks department would we're not going to want to act against the wishes of the community at large I don't believe that I have a terrible communication with the parks department it's hard to maintenance it's hard they're hard to reach they won't talk to you on the phone you only can email them they don't respond they don't come I have my own relationship and it's not a good one so parks department needs to make themselves more accessible to manky park because right now they're not real high on my list they need to make themselves much more accessible well I apologize for your experience I do know that all of our publicly funded bond projects for instance we have anywhere from two to four public meetings to get public input to engage the community so we make a concerted effort to reach out to the community on any of our park projects questions or comments are out in the audience right now we have done a few take a few different steps through a few different means to try and get feedback up to this point that it was needed and I think we do have some concrete things that we can take away from this I want to assure you that as a result of this and the reason why this meeting happened is when feedback started coming in I was like we need to have a public input process and we are as the association are not going to do anything without making sure there is a good feedback process so to that effect because we have a lot of takeaways from this meeting the conversation is going to continue this is not the last opportunity for public input about this project you are going to have I made a form so if you have thoughts additional questions if you want to be on a committee to continue working on this project you have the opportunity to do so we now have a contact directly to trace and trace as well so if you have additional feedback suggestions recommendations about the process the art how the art is maintained etc please feel free to email them please feel free to email us until we feel comfortable that the process is something that to the furthest extent possible people can agree on we are going to make sure that nothing happens unless people can get on board with it so obviously there is a diversity of opinion and there are a lot of people that live in this community so it's going to be a process to come up with that but we are going to make sure we do our best to do that if you would like to take a form please do we are always available via email the trace and trace is now available via email as well and I am sure this conversation is going to continue are there any additional questions from the audience we are going to have that posted Taylor excuse me a second Rick is that going to be posted on the website my one question is the external question is the sculpture in front of George's house going in yesterday or has it been halted because what happened at the top of the hill is this all happened for you about it and now it was going to be in front of George's house and it got moved to the other side is it yes or no so I halted requested that any further installations be halted as far as I know that is still the case but I do not know when we will be installing it so that is probably priority number one to address because we do have the sculpture required so yes yes but as of right now there is not an immediate date that there is a planned installation and I know he wants it but he is not the only house in the neighborhood it has been acquired we made some commitments based on some early talks that we had with the board and so it is in waiting it is ready to go well now it is in waiting it is all you know what I am saying because as we go through this process I am starting to see more focus right so yes I understand what you are saying so one of the things I request to be part of the plan is that a consistent process for when a sculpture is acquired how people communicate about the sculpture how the logistics are handled the timeline is put in place we do not have it in place right now but we recognize that it is needed for the last time but I think it is not going to be addressed because this is wild and because there is not a lot of traffic the wildlife here is really diffuse underneath the mesquite stand is a large population of tranchemists and you can see them going across the street and coming back and it is really amazing if you start digging holes and disrupting things they will go away the bird life is amazing we have foxes we have coyotes we have all kinds and this has been a safe place for them as Brackenridge Park is and they have to cross that street to get over here but they make up part of the loveliness and the beauty of this place and if it is disrupted continually by having 25 more pieces put in every few years so there is always activity here that stuff is just going to go away it will go across the street to the wall places of Brackenridge Park where there is no sculpture if you notice a lot of the parks where there is a great deal even at the botanical gardens around the pond there is no sculpture and the native place where it sits the Texas area there is no sculpture they have known not to disrupt those areas and they put it all around the entrances there is a lot of activity and hard escape where it really shows off beautifully and I think the pocket parks really really should be considered they are small they generally have nice wide areas with no trees and they are close to Broadway it would make a wonderful showcase area for those and it would tie into the whole Broadway thing that you guys the city is trying to set up as opposed to putting them back in here where people have to dig to find them and also disrupting a lot of people who are speaking live on these streets they live here on Parlain and on Bunston and it would be kind of a disruption to have suddenly people parking up and down the street no place and chomping all around and really really changing the whole nature of this it goes on especially around the holidays and stuff there is an actual town then there was a big thing about no we can't lock it up for women so I don't think it's a really good example I mean my grandparents were here my great-grandparents in 1840 and on that area was the place where they went riding, they went swimming in the creek there was nothing there was nothing and you saw the encroachment bit by bit by bit and now it's just kind of clustered right in the middle where people are even afraid to walk there are places where there is nothing there are a couple of issues there too though I realize but I personally walked 19 days up from the top of the landmark all the reclamation marks over the rocks you know and so first I'm really I don't think anybody would know but they just think they have to yeah and I don't think anybody I think it's good to work with the natural to make sure that all that gets protected with committee in mind and we're looking at can you tell us about your experiences with the city although there was a time that was not ADA accessible later we were forced to take a sidewalk and told that it was ADA acceptable because there were little jut outs there was a time that we said well if you've got a sidewalk on this side let's put one on the other side and we were told no because we don't want to force people to walk into the street it's like that too because it's expensive I don't have a problem with bottom and top but this central area as far as I'm concerned is sacred and we have to fight to keep it that way we've always had to fight if Maverick Park won't accept it and if Travis Park won't accept it and if Hemiseric won't accept it who are you coming here thank you I want the mocha I want the mocha obviously there is we are not going to let things move forward without coming to the best content that we can we are committed no matter what happens whatever the process is for an installation that logistics are addressed the timeline is addressed feedback is addressed, information is applied because it is a public space there is a lot of investment so we have been very pleased that when we put a stop to things we need more information we need to talk about this Trace and Toreas and the parks department got on board with that and we definitely have a path forward so again we're going to keep this conversation going we're going to make sure you're informed please take the opportunity to continue to provide feedback and we will let you know as soon as we see it so next steps anybody else I'll take it