State Officials Give Hope To Anti-Barnes Move Forces

A report in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer gives new life to those who oppose the move of the Barnes Foundation into downtown Philadelphia (including me).

In fact, I’ve been wondering why this hasn’t happened before: The recession is causing state public officials to review the commitments that would be funded by a $1 billion bond issue, and they include the Barnes’s move.

Politics – and the reality of the recession – might stand in the way of the Rendell administration’s plan to borrow $1 billion to help finance public-improvement and other construction projects across the state.  

The governor has signed off on a $1 billion taxpayer-financed bond issue, but other top state officials, both Democrats, on Wednesday slammed the brakes on it.

 

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner refused to approve it, while Treasurer Rob McCord said he wanted first to consult with Gov.-elect Tom Corbett, whose administration would be saddled with helping pay off the debt. Corbett said he would review the matter.

The Inquirer, which has backed the Barnes’s move, says that approval from one of the two is necessary for the issue to move forward.

 

Here’s a link to the article.

 

No surprise that activist and artist Nancy Herman, of Friends of the Barnes Foundation, is calling for a rethinking of the move, since the movers haven’t raised the necessary $200 million yet, even with Rendell’s public funding. As well she should.

It’s a slim hope, but at least it is a hope.

There’s one worry: that saying public money should not go to the Barnes move might jeopardize other funding for the arts during bad times.