Who should have final say on public art displays?
By 
Julia Dixon, the chair of the Public Arts Commission in North Adams, resigned this week after the City Council once again failed to come to any agreement on whether the mayor or the commission should have the final sign off on public art displays.
“Decisions about public art need to be made by those who understand it, want it, make it, and see it,” Dixon wrote in a resignation letter she submitted by email while the council was still meeting. “If you vote on this language, and continue to fail to contextualize this, you will render this commission and the work it should be doing ineffective. If you still don’t understand why this is, you don’t understand public art and you certainly have no business regulating it.”
According to coverage by the Berkshire Eagle, the arts commission was created in 2015. At the time, public art displays were approved by a handshake between then-mayor Richard Alcombright and the artist. Alcombright wanted to create a more formal process that involved the community, which led to the creation of a seven-member Public Arts Commission with the authority to negotiate and sign contracts with artists.
In August, the current mayor of North Adams, Thomas Bernard, proposed a series of changes making the commission an advisory board to the mayor. He has said he doesn’t want to judge artistic proposals, but feels the mayor, as the city’s contracting authority, should have any final say on contracts.
Hovering in the background of the dispute is a real-life public art controversy. Last year, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art painted over columns underneath a Route 2 overpass in North Adams. The museum had a sound installation underneath the overpass, and the design called for all the columns to be painted gray. But the museum’s paint job covered over artwork painted by Greylock Elementary School students in 2012 and 2013.
Both the students and the museum say they had city approval for their arts projects on the underpass, but the approvals predated the creation of the arts commission. Dixon said the museum should have sought prior approval of the commission before removing a public art display. She brought up the issue at Tuesday’s City Council hearing, and started to criticize Bernard, but was “shut down.”
Since the mayor’s arts commission proposal first surfaced, the City Council has struggled with what to do. Councilors have tried to find a middle path, giving the mayor final sign-off on the contracts while attempting to give the commission control over the artist and the art works selected. Despite a series of meetings on the issue, a solution hasn’t emerged.
“I wish I didn’t feel the need to step aside,” Dixon wrote in her resignation letter. “I believe in public art, especially in this city. I believe in its power to inspire, motivate, communicate, and beautify. But I can’t spend another hour, much less another month, fighting against the politicians and political structures that should be supporting us.”
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, in an op-ed targeted at Washington lawmakers, explains how to get gun legislation passed. (The Hill)
Orlando Pena of SEIU Local 509 backs legislation creating a registry of caregivers who have committed abuse, but he says an appeal process must be included. (CommonWealth)
Gov. Charlie Baker, looking to honor a self-imposed cap he put in place,is returning all but $200 of a $2,500 donation to his inaugural celebration from a lobbyist with close ties to Vice President Mike Pence. (Boston Globe)
Sen. John Keenan is now leading the charge on Beacon Hill to keep Massachusetts from abandoning Daylight Savings Time during the winter months. (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh takes a cautious approach on opportunity zones. (WBUR)
New Bedford asks a judge to toss out legal claims by ABC Disposal that its contract with the city allowed the company to hike recycling prices after China stopped accepting recycled materials and the price to dispose of them skyrocketed. (South Coast Today)
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter shoots down rumors that he may be considering taking a job in the Baker administration focused on the opioid epidemic. (The Enterprise)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
A Globe editorial applauds the term limit Nancy Pelosi has agreed to and says it would be good for House Democrats to ratify limits on leadership posts and committee chairmanships.
Michael Cohen said President Trump knew it was wrong to direct hush-money payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump and that it was done with the goal of aiding his campaign. (Washington Post) Federal prosecutors are now looking at whether foreigners made illegal donations to Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC in an effort to influence policy. (New York Times)
Several lame-duck legislatures are rushing through lots of bills, many of them controversial. In Massachusetts, the House passed a controversial bill extending unemployment benefits for locked-out workers of National Grid and Senate leaders have hinted they may pass it, too. (Governing)
ELECTIONS
A federal judge in Maine rejected US Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s claim that the state’s ranked-choice voting system is unconstitutional and too confusing. As a result, Poliquin’s narrow electoral defeat by Democrat Jared Golden should stand, although Poliquin is still hopeful he might win in a recount. (Bangor Daily News)
Joe Battenfeld ridicules the idea of a Biden-Romney “unity” ticket, rolled out in this recent Politico piece, as a sure way to guarantee a Trump reelection. (Boston Herald)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The New Bedford port, for the 18th year in a row, reported the highest level of fish landings in the country by value at $389 million. (South Coast Today)
High wages and cost of living may be part of why Amazon and now Apple have bypassed the Boston area for big expansions. (Boston Globe) But Wayfair is growing here like crazy, and $31 million in state tax breaks approved yesterday are helping. (Boston Globe)
The Cannabis Control Commission approved four new recreational pot store licenses — for businesses in Fall River, Great Barrington, Hudson, and Pittsfield. (Boston Globe) Fall River officials are reworking their host community agreement with pot shops, lowering the local tax from 4 percent to 3 percent. (Boston Globe)
CBS paid actress Eliza Dushku $9.5 million to settle harassments claims that arose from some inappropriate jokes made by the star of the show Bull. (New York Times)
EDUCATION
Alarm is being sounded over discarded syringes found on the grounds of the Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School in Roxbury, which sits near Boston’s notorious “Methadone Mile.” (Boston Herald)
The Methuen School Committee approves a $100 fee for students who want to park at the high school. (Eagle-Tribune)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Todd Brown of Northeastern University says pharmacy middlemen are manipulating the system of selling drugs to turn large profits. (CommonWealth)
TRANSPORTATION
Incoming MBTA general manager Steve Poftak brings an eye for detail and forward-looking innovation along with a wariness of “the expansive dreams of transit advocates” looking to add to a system before it’s in good shape. (Boston Globe)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A Revere couple is mourning the death of its two young daughters, killed after being hit by a car driven by a Chelsea woman who is now facing vehicular homicide charges. (Boston Herald)
A Herald editorial sides with US Attorney Andrew Lelling and federal ICE agents against a group of retired state and federal judges who signed a letter urging federal immigration authorities to stop making arrests at courthouses.
Hate crimes in Massachusetts reached their highest level last year in more than a decade. (Boston Globe)
Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey is looking at ways to help people expunge criminal records related to past marijuana charges, something authorized by the recent criminal justice reform bill. (Patriot Ledger)
Incoming Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins told current employees in the office not to worry about their jobs. (Boston Herald)
Three district attorney offices in Massachusetts have shelled out nearly $70,000 for legal fees to fight a public records request by the Boston Globe seeking a listing of the cases they prosecuted and the outcomes. (Boston Globe)