City Council Meeting: January
22, 2013
Agenda Item: 8-B
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Karen Ginsberg, Community &
Cultural Services Director
Subject: Next steps for Chain Reaction sculpture
by Paul Conrad
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Authorize the expenditure of
up to $20,000 to temporarily patch and secure the sculpture.
2) Allow the sculpture as fenced,
to remain in place for up to one year, through February 1, 2014, to allow the
community additional time to raise the funds necessary for its rebuilding.
3) Authorize the commitment of up
to $85,000 in funding from the Cultural Trust Fund, to be used as a match on a
dollar for dollar basis to assist in community fund raising. The
match would only be made available if and when the full amount needed to
rebuild the sculpture is secured and the project moves forward.
4) Authorize the commitment of up
to $80,000 to be used for a landscape barrier around the work should the
rebuilding of the sculpture move forward.
Executive Summary
The sculpture, installed in 1991, is in need of major
conservation work. On March
20, 2012, the City Council approved the Arts Commission’s recommendation to
remove Chain Reaction, and agreed to delay such action until November 15, 2012,
to allow the family and members of the community time to fundraise for the
necessary repairs. At that time, if
private funding to restore the work was not secured, the
sculpture would be offered first to the artist’s family and heirs and/or to any
arts institution of their choosing. It
would also be thoroughly documented for historic purposes prior to removal. In July and November, the work and an associated
parcel were designated as a City landmark by the Landmarks Commission. To date less
than $10,000 in private funding has been secured. Staff recommends
that the sculpture be patched, secured per the Building Official’s
recommendations, and that the community fundraising effort be given additional
time, up to a maximum of one year, to raise the necessary funds.
Background
History of the sculptureChain Reaction, by Paul Conrad, was a gift to the City that was approved by City Council on October 9, 1990 after extensive public process and debate. The work was originally offered to the City in 1988, and was not site specific in the sense that the artist offered it to other cities as well. The acquisition was reviewed by a panel of three prominent artists who recommended support of the acquisition to the Arts Commission. In order to gain public input, a model of the piece was displayed in the lobby of City Hall from July through October of 1989. Of those surveyed, 730 citizens recommended against the City accepting the sculpture and 392 citizens favored its acceptance. The Arts Commission voted three separate times over the course of the entire review process, each time to accept the gift. The work was funded by a private donation to the Santa Monica Arts Foundation of $250,000. It is important to note that in terms of Paul Conrad’s intent for the work, to the extent that it can be understood from the contract that he signed with the City, he specifically gave the City permission to move or to ‘abandon, dismantle or destroy the Work’.
The staff
report that originally presented the sculpture for consideration states
that the work will be made of bronze, which would require little or no
maintenance. However, as actually
fabricated, the sculpture is made of copper tubing over a fiberglass core with
an internal frame of stainless steel.
These materials, while durable, do not have the same permanence in an
outdoor setting as cast bronze.
Initial Evaluation of the Sculpture’s Safety
In the summer of 2011, the City’s Building
Official observed members of the public, including children, climbing and
interacting with the sculpture and was prompted to complete a preliminary
evaluation of its safety. The structural
integrity of the work could not be ascertained based solely on visual
observation; and a number of issues of concern were observed. An
interdepartmental staff team decided, in the interest of public safety, to
fence off and preclude access to the sculpture while additional research and
analysis were performed.
Initial Assessment and Findings
The City then assembled a professional team to assist in the
assessment of Chain Reaction to determine its structural integrity. Initial examination consisted of a visual
inspection of the internal armature to detect any corrosion as well as lab
testing of fiberglass and concrete samples along with sample chain-links and
the fasteners that attach the chains to the fiberglass shell of the sculpture. Overall the findings were mixed, with some
aspects that performed well, some identified areas of concern, and some
substantial unknowns, due in part to the inability to access certain areas of
the sculpture without causing substantial damage to the work. The consulting team and the City’s Building
Official identified the need for further testing and developed preliminary
estimates of both the anticipated costs of such tests as well as the likely
cost of repair. Prior to completion of all the necessary testing, and as presented in
the table below, on March 20, 2012 Council was presented with a range of cost
estimates based upon likely possibilities depending on the most probable
outcomes of the tests. In addition to
testing, repair and conservation, it was recommended that if the City chose to
retain the sculpture at the site, a landscaped barrier be put in place to limit
public access to the work, particularly climbing by children.
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Preliminary estimates
presented to Council 3/20/12 |
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Low Estimate |
High Estimate |
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Initial Assessment |
$20,715 |
$20,715 |
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Sub-total to date |
$20,715 |
$20,715 |
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Additional testing |
$15,870 |
$20,870 |
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Repair |
$64,000 |
$200,000 |
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Conservation |
$52,000 |
$65,000 |
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Landscaping |
$56,000 |
$80,000 |
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Contingency 10% |
$18,787 |
$36,587 |
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TOTAL |
$227,372 |
$423,172 |
Action by the Arts Commission and City
Council
The Santa Monica Arts Commission held a
special meeting on February 1, 2012 to hear public testimony and consider the status
of Chain Reaction. They considered the
findings to date along with the City’s deaccession policy which outlines when a
work may be removed from public display.
The Arts Commission voted 10 to 1 in support of the staff recommendation
to deaccession and remove the sculpture.
The Commission also voted to recommend that such action be delayed by
six months to allow the family and community supporters of Chain Reaction a
period of time to raise the funds necessary to repair the work.
On March
20, 2012, the City Council approved the Arts Commission’s recommendation to
remove the sculpture, and agreed to delay such action until November 15, 2012,
to allow the family and members of the community time to fundraise for the
necessary repairs. Council further
instructed staff to complete the recommended additional testing of the
work.
Landmark Status
The City’s Landmarks Commission took action on July
9, 2012 to designate the sculpture a city landmark, and on November
12, 2012 designated an associated landmark parcel surrounding the
sculpture. Any alteration, restoration,
construction, removal, relocation or demolition of or to the sculpture or its
associated landmark parcel will therefore require review and/or approval by the
Landmark Commission pursuant to a Certificate of Appropriateness. The sculpture is now the City’s first landmarked work of
public art. It is no longer part of the
City’s public art collection as it has been deaccessioned by the Arts
Commission.
Discussion
Council was last updated on the status of the sculpture via an
information item on September 10,
2012. The City Manager and staff met
with members of the family, their attorney and community supporters on
September 14th to discuss the status of the work and next steps
prior to the November 15th deadline.
Supporters were informed that due to the press of City business the item
was likely to return to Council in late January or early February.
Status of the Testing:
The City paid over $61,000 for all of the
necessary testing of the work. The City’s Building Official received the final
report from the structural engineer in late summer and issued a memo with his
assessment of the findings on September 6, 2012, a copy of which is attached
(attachment A). His recommendation is that in order to address the long-term
safety concerns associated with the work, the dome of the sculpture needs to be
removed and either repaired or replaced.
Revised Cost Estimates
Once the testing was complete, staff met
with Peter Carlson, a fine art fabricator who worked with Paul Conrad to
fabricate the original work. Mr.
Carlson’s firm developed preliminary estimates for two options to repair or
rebuild the work, both of which include an initial assessment phase (attachment
B). It is important to note that these
are preliminary, rough order of magnitude estimates, and Mr. Carlson expressed
that until his firm had completed the initial assessment phase he could not
commit to a more specific estimate. The range for option one (repair) is
$270,000 to $300,000 and for option two (rebuild) is $420,000 to $475,000. The estimates for both of these options
include the costs of an initial assessment phase estimated at $20,000 to
$25,000. In either case the cost is
likely to be substantially more than the original cost of the work.
Status of Fundraising Efforts
To date the family and community supporters
of the work have approximately $10,000 from contributions and the sale of two
of Mr. Conrad’s artworks. City staff has
been providing assistance with the fundraising in a variety of ways, primarily
by allowing the use of the Santa Monica Arts Foundation as a fiscal receiver for
the project, at no cost. Typically fiscal
receivers charge between 5% and 10% of the funds raised
for this service. In addition the City
has done considerable local outreach to make potential donors aware of the
need, including press releases, listings on various websites, and a spot on City
TV. The community group’s fundraising
efforts are ongoing and in October 2012 they enlisted the support of a grant
writer to assist them in researching and writing grant applications.
Community Context
At a time when the City has had to pay large
sums to the State due to the loss of redevelopment, modify or defer major
capital improvement projects, and continues to face a long-term budgetary
structural imbalance, investing up to $555,000 in public funds in the
rebuilding of a landmark sculpture, including an appropriate barrier, is not a
responsible approach. The Shotgun House
offers a relevant example of how such a project can move forward as a collaboration between the City and the community. The Santa Monica Conservancy is raising the
money to rehabilitate the structure and the City has covered the costs of the
necessary site improvements. Comparably,
in the case of Chain Reaction, the City Manager has
committed to recommending to Council that the City cover the costs of the
landscape barrier, estimated at $80,000, if the community group is successful
in raising the necessary funds to rebuild the work.
Use of Art Funding for Repair or Rebuilding
Originally, in deciding to
deaccession the work, the Arts Commission considered the high cost of repairing
or rebuilding the work for future generations as one of the deciding
factors. To put the potential cost of
these repairs in perspective, City Council allocated $100,000 in one-time funds
in 2008 to assist with major conservation needs for the City’s collection. The funds were used to repair three works:
Big Wave, by Tony de Lap, which is also 20 years old; the installation by
Michael Davis in the Public Safety Facility; and the work by Mauro Staccioli
located at the intersection of Pico Blvd and Ocean Ave. Staff did an analysis
of the average amount spent on the care and maintenance of the City’s public
art collection over the last four and half years, and the combined average,
including the special one-time funds was approximately $47,000 a year.
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Collection
Maintenance |
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Year |
Regular Collection Maintenance |
Council Special Maintenance Fund (1) |
Total |
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FY 2008-09 |
39,259.36 |
1,000.00 |
40,259.36 |
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FY 2009-10 |
4,782.41 |
33,220.05 |
38,002.46 |
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FY 2010-11 |
47,369.62 |
57,662.50 |
105,032.12 |
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FY 2011-12 |
44,042.38 |
8,024.72 |
52,067.10 |
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FY 2012-13 (2) |
2,078.30 |
- |
2,078.30 |
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Totals |
137,532.07 |
99,907.27 |
237,439.34 |
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Notes |
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(1) One-time City Council allocation. |
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(2) Partial fiscal year expenditures from 7/1/12 to
12/31/12. |
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In addition, overall funding for public art has been substantially impacted by the loss of Redevelopment and the limited number of capital improvement projects that the City is moving forward with at this time. The entire public art allocation in the City’s FY 12/13 Capital Improvement program was $161,194.
Another point of comparison in regard to the overall cost to repair or rebuild Chain Reaction, is the amount the City allocates on an annually basis to support grant programs to artists and arts organizations, which in FY 12/13 was approximately $390,000. With limited arts funds available, the investment required to repair or rebuild the sculpture continues to be disproportionate in relation to overall community cultural funding priorities. Further, the work has been formally deaccessioned according to the City’s policies and procedures, in part due to the high cost to repair.
Funds deposited by developers into the City’s Cultural Trust Fund pursuant to the Developer Cultural Arts requirement can be used for the restoration of works of art, as well as other community cultural priorities identified in the cultural plan, from grants to special events such as Glow, and other artistic or cultural uses recommended by the Arts Commission. The current balance in the Cultural Trust Fund is $174,433. A portion, or all of this amount could be allocated to partially offset the cost of repairing or rebuilding of Chain Reaction, however this would impact other community cultural priorities going forward. Nonetheless staff is recommending that up to $85,000 of this fund be set aside to assist in community fundraising efforts by providing the possibility of a dollar for dollar match. It is recommended that these funds only be released if and when community fundraising efforts successfully raised the amount needed to rebuild the sculpture and a contract to proceed with the work was to move forward.
Repair
versus Rebuilding
If the City were to invest considerable funds in Chain Reaction, the more costly rebuild option needs be pursued both from a public safety perspective and as it would ensure the work’s future for a greater period of time. The engineers’ report clearly shows that the longevity of the fiberglass shell is a key issue, particularly in the area of the top of the ‘mushroom’ cloud or dome. Further, the City’s Building Official states that for safety reasons the fiberglass covering of the dome, including the base lath mesh needs to be replaced.
The issue is complicated by the fact that the kind of major alterations to the work which would be necessary during rebuilding, such as the recreation of the ‘cloud’ portion of the sculpture, could render the work essentially false. This is due to the fact that the artist is not available to participate in the process, in particular the laying of the chains that finish the piece, an aspect of the work on which Paul Conrad spent a great deal of time. These are considerations of considerable importance when it comes to a work of art, and it is one of the reasons that City staff felt working with Peter Carlson made sense, since as the original fabricator he had worked very closely with the artist on key decisions and has a unique understanding of the piece. It is however not clear how these concerns apply in relation to a designated landmark, whose repair or rebuilding would need to be governed by the standards established by the Secretary of the Interior.
Ultimately, if the community group is successful in raising the necessary funds, the rebuilding of the sculpture will present complex challenges, which have been compounded by its landmark status, and which staff will need to explore in conjunction with engineers, conservators, historic preservation specialists, and specialized fabricators. The City would most likely issue a RFP at that point for qualified teams to bid on the work.
Commission
Action
An update on the status of
Chain Reaction was presented to the Arts Commission on January 17, 2013. The Commission was asked if they would
recommend setting aside almost 50% of the monies currently available in the
Cultural Trust Fund, for the rebuilding of the work. Due to the date of the Arts Commission
meeting, staff will provide Council with an oral update on any action taken at
their meeting.
Alternatives
There are several alternatives City Council
might choose to pursue:
Alternative
1: City Council could
direct staff to
initiate the required process to remove the landmarked sculpture by Paul
Conrad, Chain Reaction, including applying to the Landmarks Commission for a
certificate of appropriateness and ensuring compliance with CEQA.
Alternative 2: City Council could reprioritize the funds
necessary for the repair or complete rebuilding of the work from other City
projects and initiatives and allocate them to Chain Reaction. Estimate: $350,000 to $380,000 to repair
(including removal and assessment of the ‘cloud’ portion of the sculpture) or
$500,000 to $555,000 to rebuild. In
addition to the costs of repair or rebuilding, these amounts include the
estimated $80,000 needed to develop a landscape barrier for the work.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
If City Council were to support the staff recommendation to patch,
secure the sculpture per the Building Official’s recommendations, and wait one
year, funding is available in the FY 2012/13 budget for the Cultural Affairs
Division to cover the estimated $10,000 to $20,000 cost in account 01560.555060.
If community efforts successfully raise the amount needed to rebuild the
sculpture and a contract to proceed with the work was
to move forward, a one-time dollar for dollar match in the amount of $85,000
would be provided from the Cultural Trust Fund.
Should staff be directed to pursue Alternative 1, proceed with the
documentation and removal of the work; funds to cover the associated estimated
costs of up to $30,000 are available in the FY 2012/13 budget for the Cultural
Affairs Division. The costs associated with this recommendation will be charged
to 01560.555060. If Council were to
choose to pursue Alternative 2 (repair or rebuild), Council action would be
required to appropriate funding in an amount not to exceed $555,000 to account
C010081.589000 for the repair or rebuilding of the sculpture and the provision
of a landscape barrier. Such funds would
need to be reprioritized from other City projects and commitments.
Prepared by: Jessica Cusick, Cultural
Affairs Manager
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Approved: |
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Forwarded to Council: |
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Karen Ginsberg Director, Community & Cultural Services |
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Rod Gould City Manager |