Sixteen years ago, St. Louis aldermen passed an ordinance requiring that 1 percent of budgets for construction projects done by the city be earmarked for public art. But despite tens of millions of dollars in development in the decade and a half since, no money was ever actually set aside. Now a group of arts advocates want to try again on a public art ordinance—this time, with teeth.
The Board of Aldermen passed the bill purporting to create a dedicated pot of money to fund public art in 2010. It called for 1 percent of the budget of all city-funded construction, renovation and “site improvement” projects—as well as an amount equal to 1 percent of the tax breaks given to projects receiving tax increment financing in the City of St. Louis—to be set aside for the fund. Back of the envelope, if the letter of the bill had been followed, there could easily be millions of dollars in the pot by now.
But despite the bill becoming law under then-Mayor Francis Slay, none of that ever happened. A spokesperson for the city comptroller confirms that a Public Art Trust Fund was set up, but no money went into it…