Well, perhaps I missed something entirely at the Beach Workshop the other night. But then it was never really discussed. Perhaps when they hire Michael Singer, and we (the public) do not like his design or his concept of what our beach should look like, we don’t have to accept it. But then, why would we be willing to pay ANY money to an artist to draw what he wants or what HE believes the solution should be.We as residents have just a normal ability and a general feeling of what we want at our beach. We have expressed that often enough over the past 3 years. Actually, it is more about what we DON’T want, then what we do. Some have been hostile to the tenants there, taking it out on them because of their reduced rents, forgetting that the City has let them down on the building providing NO maintenance. They have been left to work out those problems themselves. There are a few residents who are just hostile, period. One even rode his bike to the 2-22 at 2 event just to voice his displeasure. The beach is hot.
An engineer, after years of education and training, finds the solution and implements a design through the input of others, hopefully, in this case, the residents of Lake Worth who have spoken on this issue. They are creative in a different way than just an artist. They design using mathematics and ensuring that the concept works.
The artist, on the other hand, through some God given talent perhaps, although I have seen art for which I have NO understanding, draws a solution that is meaningful to him. There is no rationalization. There are no measurements as an engineer would make. It doesn’t mean that the final product might not look nice; it just may mean that it is not practical and it may not fit into our budget for the beach/park. And, we might hate it.
After several hours at the meeting, the Commission was willing to give Michael Singer, the artist, carte blanch for the probable 25 thou and a very wide brush to come up with a vision. Have you ever seen an artist who draws quickly? Can’t wait. If we hate it, can we get a refund?
