{"id":2938,"date":"2007-11-29T06:57:23","date_gmt":"2007-11-29T14:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2007\/11\/mr_sander_tear_down_this_whimsically_playful_mosaic-tiled_wall.html"},"modified":"2008-01-24T10:51:02","modified_gmt":"2008-01-24T15:51:02","slug":"mr_sander_tear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2007\/11\/mr_sander_tear.html","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Sander, Tear Down This Whimsically Playful, Mosaic-Tiled Wall!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staten Islanders question the federal percent-for-art program — because when a project costs billions of dollars, it adds up<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Even as the MTA is raising tolls and tempers on Staten Island, it plans to spend as much as $4 million on art installations for the Second Avenue Subway.<\/p>\n

Some Islanders may not know art, but all know what they want: Funds to be spent on sorely needed mass transit improvements here.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

The federal government requires that one-half to 5 percent of a project’s budget be dedicated to art, said MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin.<\/p>\n

“Art is one critical element of our stations program that has a considerable impact . . . for a small fraction of a project’s budget,” Soffin said. “We are at the lower end of the recommended guidelines, well below 1 percent.”<\/p>\n

So it isn’t possible to eliminate the art requirement without risking the loss of the entire $1.3 billion federal contribution.<\/p>\n

Mary DiChiara of Pleasant Plains was in no mood for explanations, “We can’t get off this Island and they put aside $4 million for artwork for Manhattan? Take the $4 million and fix this bridge.<\/p>\n

“They think we’re living on Fantasy Island, and nobody ever wants or needs to get off.”<\/p>\n

“Just once, I’d like to see everybody on Staten Island who works in Manhattan just stay home,” she concluded. “Then they’ll see.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staten Islanders question the federal percent-for-art program — because when a project costs billions of dollars, it adds up: Even as the MTA is raising tolls and tempers on Staten Island, it plans to spend as much as $4 million on art installations for the Second Avenue Subway. Some Islanders may not know art, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,6,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture_infrastructure","category-arts_entertainment","category-staten_island","category-thats_an_outrage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}