Mayor Libby Schaaf has a fascinating way of using words to
address pressing issues that this city faces. This month’s example comes from
the East Bay Express article, “Will Oakland Lose Its Artistic Soul?” by Sarah
Burke. Let’s line it (like poetry):
Schaaf said
the Kenneth Rainin Foundation,
a major funder of the arts,
has agreed to partner with the city
to move forward
with some of the strategies
presented by her task force.
The Rainin Foundation
recently formed its own working group
to conduct a study of Oakland’s art ecosystem
to identify how best to support these strategies, said
Schaaf.[1]
At some point, we’re lead to believe, this will lead to the
Rainin Foundation dropping a big check to fund local artists. Are you excited
by the possibility?
Are you a little curious about how Mayor Schaaf managed to
persuade these art patrons to “agree to partner with the city.” Did she offer
economic incentives to Rainin? If so, what and how? And how much money did she
spend on her “task force?” And why does the mayor feel the city needs, in
addition to the “task force,” the extra bureaucratic layer of Rainin’s “working
group” before anything can happen?
Does the Rainin Foundation solicit, encourage, or welcome
community imput? And, if not, why not? Why doesn’t the reporter, Sarah Burke,
publish an email or other contact information for both Rainin’s “working group”
and Libby’s “task force?” Will there be any money left for “the arts” once all
the salaries of the task force and/or working group are paid? These are but a few of the questions these
paragraphs (or stanzas) leave unanswered. The article continues:
When asked for a
general timeline,
she offered only that
“work is underway.”
If I received such an answer from a student who didn’t turn
in his homework assignment, that student would not likely pass the class,
especially when she doesn’t even understand the assignment (which she gave
herself when she declared 14th Street a Black Arts District, to name
but one)—unless, of course, the assignment is precisely this: to do nothing—or even worse than nothing—while
pretending to address the crisis (i.e. spending money “on the arts” that never
gets to artists, but then she can announce herself as a patron of the arts
because she’s thinking about appointing a Cultural Affairs Manager who would
then oversee the Oakland Arts Commission which she wouldn't think of re-instituting without a Cultural Affairs Manager)--but she's not a student; she's the mayor and doesn't have to listen to us: the art snail knows how to speed up very fast when it's driving away from us in time for a meeting with Bay Development, Wood Partners et. al.
