Our presentation to the PPMCC last night was well received and (if I say so myself) well delivered. Beaver friends Lory & Jean were there to while away the long hours and Jill Harcke, executive director of the John Muir Mountain Day Camp was there to look supportive. Jill was very happy with the beaver presentation we did at camp, and we were just thrilled with her gifted artists’ tile contributions. She brought a special “beaver trophy” as a thank you and a print out of all the quotes from John Muir with the word “beaver” in them.
(She does thank you, very well.)
The commission enjoyed the presentation and was appreciative of the sample tile I passed around. They had a brief discussion where they agreed that this was in their purview. Then mentioned a new plan from Main Street Martinez to do an artist tile bridge coming up for review. First I (or most of them) had heard of it. (And to be honest if it existed before I had lunch with some key players to talk about our plan I will eat a bug). But good ideas are always stolen, we’ve established that. I’m don’t mind sharing.
There was some discussion earlier about the connundrum of how could Martinez possibly make good choices on the cultural commission without a cultural plan? One Unfan of ours wanted to delay the project because the said plan didn’t exist, and talked forlornly about how art could not be appreciated without rules. He described an important mural in his office that he “had painted over” because he hadn’t known how significant the muralist was. “And I actually liked the painting! But I covered it up. I didn’t know better because there wasn’t a plan. I would never had done it i I’d known.”
The mind reals. The jaw drops.
(I would have liked that movie if I would have read the review. I would have enjoyed that wine if I had known how much it cost. I would have loved that music if I knew Rolling Stone was going to rate it 5 stars.I would have slept comfortably in that bed if I had known the mattresses were European. I would have appreciated that girlfriend if I knew at the time who she was going to eventually marry.)
Certainly a person couldn’t possibly just use their own SENSES to actually decide what they enjoyed and make such a decision without a plan, could they? Certainly an educated person couldn’t research a work of art and learn about the artist and decide whether to keep it or not? Honestly, I couldn’t imagine the kind of self-awareness you would have to lack to say this out loud in a public forum in defense of already questionable action.
Another Unfan wanted us to get a permit from fish and game because we were working near the creek, (!) and maybe go to the planning commission as well (!!). I greatly appreciated the other members disagreement and Karen Majors clever warning that “We don’t like to send projects into a “Mobius Strip”. (Which, given that the application for a public event in the city of Martinez is 19 pages, can’t be entirely true, but I was so happy to be supported that I tried not to appear doubtful.) (Just for comparision the application for an event in San Francisco is one page.)
A nice man asked if there were issues for our timeline and if going on to city council would delay us inconveniently. Having sat already in the meeting for nearly three hours I smiled and said “Yes, but we’ve waited before. We know how to do it.” A brave voice pointed out that this was children’s artwork and what was the planning commission going to change? There was a motion to approve and send us off to coordinate with staff, which was seconded. The commission voted nine to two (Unfans) to approve, and Karen will contact me to arrange a meeting with staff to work out the particulars. I think I’m supposed to come back in Novemeber for a final final final approval, but at least I don’t need to go to the council.
All in all it was a successful (but longggggggggggg) night. The issue of naming the beaver festival park was delayed for another day, but I was able to mention that I was fairly sure what it should be called. “Some people call it the-park-where-Steve-Weir-got-married, but that only happened once, and we’ve had two festivals now.”
Just saying.
