Smart Public Art needs policy to ensure fiscal responsibility. Councillor Carol Day proposed a motion to change the public art policy to allow council the discretion to refuse a Public Art Project and alternatively direct 100% of those funds to local art programs and facilities. The cataylist was two projects “Three Ginseng” worth $ 195,000 and “Flower Tree” worth $ 550,000 dollars, the combined value of just these two projects is $ 745,000. Current policies restrict council so council was forced to accept these two pieces and then voted to have them installed on private land so taxpayers did not have to pay to maintain them. The vote was approved with Councillors Loo, McPhail and Dang voting no.

2016 Public Art Program Annual Report – City of Richmond

Public art: Get ready for Flower Tree on the middle arm – Richmond News

Politicians pull roots out of public art project – Richmond News