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A Letter from MARTIN Z. MARGULIES
May 29, 2007
Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones
District 5 City of Miami City Hall
Re: HEART BEFORE ART
Dear Commissioner Spence-Jones,
Mr. Riley's latest letter on behalf of MAM suggests that I am guilty of unwarranted innuendo and inaccuracies in opposing the new art museum project that will cost this community?s taxpayers a hundred million dollars+ at a time when we have enormous unmet civic priorities. What he asserts as ?facts? are in reality his opinions that the new museum that the capital campaign for the new art museum is ?going extremely well,? ?effective management controls? are in place, the City?s financial liabilities are ?capped and will not increase,? they have hired the ?best contemporary museum architects in the world? and will design the ?greenest museum designs ever,? among others. Nonetheless, I share his desire to ensure that the ?facts? ? not spin or rhetoric ? inform the public policy decisions in regard to the proposed new $200++ million art museum on one of the City?s most valuable waterfront parks.
The following ?facts? are derived from the 2006 American Association of Museum Directors (For Year Ending 2005), as reported by museums (including MAM) across the country:
1) Collections
Out of 129 museums, MAM is ranked last in number of works of art with only 288 works as of 2005. Contrast MAM?s collection to other major cities or even university collections on the attached list and it is apparent that the additional works received in 2006-7 cannot begin to make up the shortfall in its standing among museums nationally. A building does not make an art museum ? a collection does - and the realities of today?s art market make it clear that MAM will not have a collection worthy of the millions of taxpayer dollars needed to construct this project.
2) Attendance
MAM projects a whopping annual attendance at the proposed new museum of between 191,000 at the mid-range and 224,000 at the high-range. See Table VI-5 Facility Attendance Patterns of the ConsultEcon, Inc. report commissioned by MAM. The internationally renowned Whitney Museum in New York reported 216,000 paying visitors in 2005. MAM, ranking 97th out of 98 museums reporting, had only 4,895 paying visitors in all of 2005, and ranked 132 out of 133 museums with only 9,255 paying and non-paying visitors in all of 2005. Can it be that MAM, which ranked last in number of works of art nationwide, will truly surpass such museums as the Baltimore Museum of Art (with 95,000 visitors and 90,000 works) or the paying visitors to the Whitney (with 115,000 works)?
3) Membership
Out of 132 museums reporting, MAM ranks 117th with only 808 reported members in a population of over 2 million. Contrast MAM?s membership with the Dallas Museum of Art at 18,000 or Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art at 17,000 members. As a percentage of MSA population, MAM is less than one percent, with only 0.037% of the population being members, ranking 111th out of 127 museums. The average is 4.920%. For my opposition to public funding for this ill conceived project, I have been described as being a leader of a vocal minority. Who is truly the minority? Let the elite who feel that this new museum project is so essential to the quality of life in our community pay for it, rather than foisting this enormous burden for years to come on taxpayers struggling to make ends meet.
The ?facts? speak for themselves. We already have four other collecting art museums in our County, namely the Lowe Art Museum, Frost Museum at FIU, Bass Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, in addition to the existing facility of MAM. We do not need a new $218 million art museum to house a collection that, even with the latest surge of gifts (some of which are very minor works), ranks last or nearly so in number of art works among reporting art museums nationally. Despite having five years to do so, they have not raised the $100 million in pledges needed for this project and do not have an endowment that can support its operations, much less fixed costs for the building of this project. Like the PAC and based on the attendance and revenue figures they project, MAM will surely have definite operating deficits and will ultimately ask for a handout as PAC is now doing. The City is NOT legally obligated to relinquish our irreplaceable waterfront park to this new museum project and could choose to enhance our rare urban public space with lush tropical landscaping and infrastructure for everyone in our community to enjoy ? free of charge.
In the latest submissions to the City Commission, MAM acknowledges that the civic landscape of Miami has changed in the past few years, recognizing that voters want tax relief and that ?[q]uality of Life issues like curbs, sidewalks, gutters need attention,? arguing that ?[m]useums are a quality of life issue??. See the preface to their 12 questions response. Mr. Riley is a relative newcomer to Miami, but those of us who have lived and worked in Miami for many years know that there are very real, serious, pressing civic priorities inimical to the quality of life in this community which demand our precious taxpayer dollars. The dismissive reference to curbs, sidewalks and gutters in need of attention (as if that were the only competing priority to MAM) is an outrage when so many of our elderly, disabled, and poor working class citizens struggle in poverty and on the edge of homelessness because we lack affordable housing; when our public school system is fourth largest in the nation but 37th in school board funding (neck and neck with West Virginia); when our public hospitals are overloaded and in jeopardy because of threatened tax cuts, and we lack affordable medical and mental health services for the neediest in our community; when we have thousands of homeless in our shelters and on our streets in desperate need of assistance and already strapped social services agencies are being advised that the City?s funding for food and meals and emergency shelters are being cut drastically or eliminated altogether; when our roads and transit system and our public sewer, water and drainage infrastructure need overhaul; our fire fighting capabilities will soon be compromised with reduced stations and numbers of firefighters due to budget constraints; and the list of real civic priorities goes on. Impending state funding cuts will undoubtedly add to this list of imperatives (e.g., Kid Care health insurance for low income children, elimination of Overtown Enterprise Zone, cutback of Children?s Zone in Liberty City for the needy, and financial crisis for social services and non-profit agencies serving the homeless). As legislators, you have a responsibility to the overall population, not to the select few who can afford the high-priced lobbyists and lawyers that carefully orchestrated the misleading bond issues for this project.
To our community leaders, I urge HEART ? standing for Health care, Education, Affordable housing, Refuge for the homeless, and Transportation/infrastructure ? before ART when it comes to quality of life. When we have provided for our children, our sick, disabled and elderly, our homeless, and our poor and working class, then we can spend more of our hard earned dollars on the curbs, sidewalks, and gutters that need attention, along with a brand new art museum for the very few who patronize this venue.
For the record, I am not opposed to the art museum in this community ? just the use of taxpayer money so desperately needed for other civic priorities. Let those who want the luxury of a new museum pay for it privately and provide the truly world class collection of art works it needs, as is the long established tradition and custom with other art museums nationally and internationally.
This is not about what we want, this is about what we are ? the poorest large city in the United States - and we need to face the ?facts.?
Sincerely,
Martin Z. Margulies
Enclosure
cc: Commissioner Angel Gonzalez
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff
Commissioner Joe Sanchez
Commissioner Tomas Regalado
City Manager Pedro Hernandez
Lynn Westall, Senior Assistant to the City Manager
Terence Riley, Director MAM
445 GRAND BAY DRIVE, KEY BISCAYNE, FL 33149 TEL: 305.365.3885 FAX: 305.365.3887
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