Last week, I posted about a
Call for Artists posted on the web site of the
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities to "design and create a suspended public art installation along the main concourse of the
new Washington Nationals baseball stadium," with a budget for the project of $200,000. Well, according to
today's Examiner, it turns out that back on May 15, when the city's budget was approved, the $850,000 originally included for spending on various stadium art-related projects was zeroed out because, you guessed it, the council determined that this money if spent would violate the $611 million spending cap on All Things Ballpark, even though
a plan had been hatched earlier this year where "art was to be purchased with general obligation bonds, permanently owned by the commission and leased to the team at no cost, which put the works outside" the cap. And note that, rather than now being able to spend that $850,000 on other arts projects in the city, the commission doesn't have access to that money at all. The Examiner says that the Fenty administration is "still is negotiating to revive the projects."