In July 2006, downtown museum developers with city approval kicked off “Picture Museum Square.” For a fee, anyone — artists, schools, businesses, etc. — could paint one of the panels of the plywood fence surrounding the old Sears block downtown. The idea was to raise money for the museum project and make the block more attractive while waiting for construction to commence. Each panel cost $500. Many participated as several of the panels were decorated with various styles of artwork.
As PeoriaIllinoisan shows with his trusty camera, the plywood fence surrounding so-called Museum Square has been painted black. It’s unclear whether Caterpillar or the City painted over all the artwork. You may recall that Caterpillar recently was granted a lease by the city to use the block as an employee parking lot while their parking deck is getting some maintenance work done to it.
The lease agreement specifically states that the outside of the fence is the City’s responsibility to maintain, and that additional artwork can be painted there, although Caterpillar has the right to approve the artwork first:
5.5 … In addition, the City shall maintain the exterior of the existing fence surrounding the Premises. The City shall have the right to grant additional licenses to community groups to paint or attach artwork or graphics to the exterior of the fence surrounding the Premises, provided that Caterpillar shall have the right, in the exercise of its reasonable judgment, to approve all such artwork and graphics. The attachment of such artwork and graphics shall not negatively impact Caterpillar’s use of the Premises.
I’ve written to Interim City Manager Henry Holling asking for an explanation for the painting over of the artwork. I’ll update this post with his response when I receive it. I agree with PeoriaIllinoisan: inquiring minds want to know.
UPDATE (6/10): Here’s the response I received from Henry Holling:
Mr. Summers, the fence painting was worked out between the Museum Group and Caterpillar. The artwork was not painted over, it was removed for future use.
Thanks for your inquiry.
Also, the Journal Star has an article today about plans for the fence. I’m glad to hear they didn’t paint over the artwork.
How is the city manager search progressing, anyway?
Henry Holling…you mean the ex-Cat employee?
I’m sure you’ll receive an honest explanation.
When Henry Holling took over the city manager job, Peoria city employees that work for him were thrilled! Granted, Henry isn’t perfect, but he is a very intelligent and well liked person able to get along with most people. Those are qualities we need in a city manager. We are lucky he was available.
What I know about this is now on my blog:
http://www.ahlthingsconsidered.blogspot.com
The parking lot is poured concrete. Doesn’t that seem to be a slight overkill for a ‘temporary’ parking lot? Here’s a picture if anyone’s interested.
http://namethispeorialandmark.blogpeoria.com/files/2008/06/peoria_landmark_240.jpg
The initial ‘art project’ was another poor bid to pilfer money from the public for the museum. You had to ‘pay’ to paint a section of wall. I am betting that the very few paintings existing on the wall was one more reminder that the museum project was dead before it even started.
If you will notice, the CAT logo is still VERY prominent on the wall. One wonders if CAT will go ahead with Visitors Center with or without the museum. I bet it will….
The artwork was removed and not painted over. There will be new graphics with a professional look that will be applied all around the whole block to make it look uniform and consistent. Personally I thought the artwork as a whole made that fence look even crappier than it was. The plain black wall looks tons better.
As far at the parking lot goes the concrete pad is what was left from the Sears building and deck. The big problem someone forgot to look into was drainage of that pad when it rains. There have been several inches of water in spots where people are supposed to park. That could be a tough problem to overcome. I would hate to be the CAT guy that over looked that issue as they had it all ready to use and then discovered it floods when it rains.
Let’s see if I get this right….the Lincoln Museum in Springfield should be the Springfield Lincoln Museum….and The Field Museum in Chicago should be the Chicago Field Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York should be the New York Museum of Modern Art and I guess Disneyland should be The Anaheim Disneyland. Yes, as humans we are expected to think and reason.
Also, I think the repainting of the fence looks great. The artwork project was a temporary project and all of those pieces are being reused in other promotional segments of the project. The fence will not remain black….it is a background color to make the rest of the graphics stand out….give things a chance to happen folks before you jump on the down with everything bandwagon.
Gee gollygee,
As I climb down off the bandwagon, maybe you can answer a few questions, since you seem to be in-the-know.
1.) WHY are we playing the ‘name the museum’ game
again?
2.) “Promotional segments of the project.” What the heck is that all about? I hope this isn’t more BS the Museum Group has decided to waste more time and money on.
3.) I am still willing to bet CAT moves ahead with their project…museum or no museum. Your take?
4.) Considering the crappy track record of the Museum Group and their efforts so far, do you really think being critical of people being critical about the museum ‘project’ is wise [I liked the way I worded that]?
I’ve been told by very credible sources that the new interim city manager is doing an excellent job, that the employees really like him, and most everyone would like to find a way to keep him.
gollygee: Just trying to follow your naming reasoning — type “Riverfront Museum” in a search engine — most returns are for Riverfront Museum Park which is located in Rockford, IL.
Diane — Holling is contractually ineligible for the permanent city manager job.
Contracts can be changed CJ. Happens all the time.
..should have used the word *amended*.
Diane — No doubt. But I would be surprised if that happened in this case. There was no small amount of controversy surrounding his getting the job even on an interim basis. The controversy was quelled only because the council promised — and put it in writing in his contract — that this would only be temporary. For the council to change it now would make them look duplicitous and would stir up the whole controversy again. I doubt they want to take that political risk.
“the new interim city manager is doing an excellent job, that the employees really like him, and most everyone would like to find a way to keep him.”
I am not talking about the city manager, just an interim position in general. In most situations an interim positions is just trying to make sure the organization functions on a day to day basis and isn’t making any big or hard decisions.
I am sure that after some rather big changes this spring the staff at the city is enjoying the relative calm since Holling was named interim city manager. This doesn’t necessarily mean would be the same if he was named the permanent city manager.
CJ – One of the things about Hollings that the citizenry objected to was that no one seemed to know anything about him. After 6 months on the job as interim city manager that would hardly be the case anymore. Personally, I have never met the man.. but if he’s doing a good job and we don’t have to go through a prolonged and expensive head hunt, why not consider him as a candidate for the permanent city manager? These comments are most likely premature anyway. For one thing, he may not even want it.
I’ve met him and he is extremely professional and polite. I know there is controversy surrounding him, but honestly, I do not know why he would want the job. He was at CAT for years and hardly needs the headache of being City Manager. As for the City Council members “amending” something, CAN YOU SAY LIBRARY???
Does Hollings like crappy art?
I doubt Henry made the decision alone, but he knows enough about working with the public that if it were destroyed there would be an outcry.
There is “controversy” regarding Holling……
Yea, that’s one way to put it.