Question of the Week: Tax dollars on public art?

Panelists and readers answered this: Hollister spent $4,000 toward the painting of five utility boxes in downtown. Should the city spend tax dollars on public art?
Bill Mifsud No. Those utility boxes have been there for years and were fine like they were. I think the city has better ways to spend money. How about adjusting our outrageous sewer monthly bill or buying more asphalt for potholes? The utility boxes do look beautiful. 
Mary Zanger: Yes. What a good way to engage the public,create downtown interest, start conversations, and provide jobs for local artists. Artwork adds style, personality, intellect,creativity and uniqueness to the town.  
Ruth Erickson: Art in public places can be beneficial and beautifying for a community as long as it is in good taste and reflects the community. Public funds (taxes) should be budgeted and be combined with grants for public arts. Public input on subject matter and cost should be a part of the discussions, making it for the people and by the people. 
Josh Castillo: No I do not think Hollister should spend $4,000 on paintings. Why? Well I live in Gilroy, California, and I’ve seen our precious paintings, tagged and graffitied over by some random kid with a $5 can of paint. Don’t get me wrong, they were beautiful for a while. But when it was tagged over, I just thought, ‘what a waste.’ And even though it was repainted wonderful, how long will it last? Who knows? I’d rather see the money be used toward schools or scholarships. 
Nelda Escamilla: The boxes are so beautiful! They are most certainly eye catchers! The brightness in the themes themselves represent Hollister. Hollister is a growing community. As a growing community, things change. Population grows, with people with different views. Homelessness grows as well. We need to keep up with our growing community. Let’s keep up our growing community with a small MEANS of BEAUTIFICATION for such a small monetary fee. The large payment comes from the hard work of the artists who will never get paid enough for their time on these projects that they work on for the simplicity of beauty! Pride comes from prideful people as well as respect to our own selves.Let’s continue to grow but along the way help Hollister stay beautiful! 
Casandra Weitz: Absolutely not. I thought that was all a part of volunteer work! There are so many talented artists in Hollister who would do that for free. Instead they should be focusing on our serious water issues that we have. Air in the water, yellow and smelly! And that goes for San Juan Bautista’s water issues as well, I feel a lot of people forget that is San Benito County. 
Carrie-Dawn Johnson: I believe they should! It gives a community a sense of ownership when they see art that depicts their hometown. It also gives them pride. Pride in living in a community that does acknowledge the need of art in our lives. Pride in knowing that others love this community. Pride in being able to express themselves. I, for one, think this was an awesome project, and completely worth the money. I look for these pieces of art whenever I am driving downtown. It gives beauty to an otherwise ordinary box. That is what art is: Taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. 
Mel Robichaud-Flowers: While I appreciate the art, I feel like it should have been donated. The $4,000 is a lot of money that could have been spent saving lives in the animal shelter. I’ve also already noticed that one of the boxes has been vandalized. Are we going to have to continue to use taxpayer dollars to fix the artwork each time this happens? I don’t know. They are certainly pretty but I feel $4,000 could have gone a lot further on another project.
See new questions Friday at SanBenitoCountyToday.com.