$8,000 OKd for Arts Consultant

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $8,000 to hire a consultant for the city’s fledgling public art program.

Councilmen Robert Ryan and John McTaggart had asked the previous week that art consultant Joyce Chambers Selber appear before the council to explain what her fee would buy the city. McTaggart said he feared art that was “insulting to the eye” would be displayed.

After Selber’s presentation Tuesday on the importance of art in the community and how she could assist the city in art selection, placement and funding, neither of the councilmen seemed persuaded to vote to employ her.

“I just cannot see spending $8,000 to get this information,” McTaggart said.

But both relented after Lois LaRue, a resident who frequently addresses the council on matters relating to development and the environment, urged an affirmative vote. Referring to the city’s year-old trash recycling program, LaRue said the city should be in the “vanguard in art as well as in trash.”

The city’s Parks Master Plan, of which the new municipal art program is a part, was recently adopted by the council. Selber’s fee is a General Fund budget item.