A mural in a PAT subway station is worth $15 million. You would think that would be good news, but the station is to be demolished.
"We did not expect it to be that much," Port Authority of Allegheny County spokeswoman Judi McNeil said. "We don't have the wherewithal to be a caretaker of such a valuable piece."
It would cost the agency more than $100,000 a year to insure the 60-foot-by-13-foot tile mural by Romare Bearden, McNeil said. Bearden was paid $90,000 for the mural, titled "Pittsburgh Recollections." It was installed in 1984.
Why the agency thought it was a good idea to spend 90k on art underground is another issue.
The subway station that is home to the mural is being demolished as part of a $435 million plan to extend the subway. The authority didn't know what it was going to do with the mural but wanted to know its value before taking it down, McNeil said.
Only a public agency could spend $90,000 to buy a 15 million dollar piece and pay $435 million to have it destroyed. The county this year implemented a 10 percent alcoholic drink tax and $2-per-day car rental tax to help pay its $30 million subsidy for the Port Authority.
1 comment:
It's called 'Government Efficiency'
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