Let them eat cake

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” Mary Antoinette uttered as french citizens starved in the streets in 1789. Let the starving eat cake.

Yet, recent events in Park City make for an interesting discussion, given the recent Black Lives Matter murals panted on Main Street in the last week.

Across the country, recent protests around police brutality make sense to me. You and I could have a good three-hour discussion over beers on the topic but my world-view is that in many places police have gotten out of control. This is especially demonstrated within minority communities.

However, I struggled with the Black Lives Matters graffiti (and the others) being painted on Main Street. Why this cause? Should other causes be allowed to paint a mural? I think back to an old Simpsons Episode where Maggy (the baby) is swiped through a cash register and the screen says NRA-4-Ever. Would Park City allow me to paint NRA-4-Ever on the street? What about “Workers of the world unite?” Why not a painting denoting native Americans’ struggles?

Then I found out Park City Municipal actually paid $15,000 to the Park City Summit County Arts Council to create the graffiti. What?

We are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We hope schools will open in the fall. We don’t know if anyone will actually travel to our resorts this winter. Sundance has already dropped the bomb and said the festival won’t be normal. Local businesses are closing.

And Parkites paid $15K for spray paint on a street. That’s very Park City.

Three things…

First, if Park City and Summit County wanted to actually contribute to the issues impacting minority populations, they would find ways to decriminalize drug offenses in Utah – not paint pictures. Second, they would audit the county and city law enforcement agencies to ensure that justice isn’t biased. Third, they would spend this money on mental health services.

Instead, $15,000 was invested in painting a mural that will be gone come January. Well, it won’t be completely gone because only part of it will wash off in the snow. Then next May, Park City will pay someone $1500 to power wash the rest of it off.

It’s a misallocation of money. Those funds could have been used in so many better ways .If money was infinite then sure, pay artists to fill Main Street with all sorts of political statements that match the City Council’s values.

However, in a pandemic where city leaders should be worrying about the future of is citizens, perhaps paying for graffiti isn’t the best use of funds. Perhaps there are a million better uses for that money.