And so let me make sure I understand this. Lower Merion Township citizens took a vote and rendered a decision by way of the majority that they wanted to see Barnes moved?
No. They wanted 94 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 to see Barnes stay. I'm sorry if I misspoke. Let me restate that. Lower Merion has a Council similar to this, which is called a Board of Commissioners consisting of Commissioners, and by a 7 unanimous vote of the Commissioners last 8 summer and a previous resolution, 9 resolutions were passed encouraging, if 10 not beseeching, the Barnes Foundation to 11 remain in Lower Merion and let us work 12 with them to open their doors. And then 13 presently what we're working on is a 14 resolution to dramatically increase visitation limits, which are controlled both by zoning decisions, as Philadelphia has a zoning framework, and also the Orphans Court of Montgomery through Judge Ott's supervision. So the short answer is, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to ask that the plans to move the Barnes be abandoned and that the Barnes stay in Merion. We very, very much want the Barnes to stay, the collection to stay. 95 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462
Commissioner Gordon, thanks for visiting us. Could you please describe the environment that the Barnes Foundation currently exists in and the relationship with the near neighbors?
I'd be happy to. The Barnes Foundation currently is a jewel of an institution on Latches Lane, which is about equivalent of three city blocks into Philadelphia on Philadelphia's western border. It is sited in an arboretum that was designed in and laid out by Laura Barnes where there exists a horticultural school, which is part of the overall experience. When you walk into the -- when you actually approach the museum, you approach up a curved driveway to this large gallery that has Jacques Lipchitz's reliefs adorning the walls, and when you walk into the immediate gallery -- I have 96 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 to mention this. When you walk into the great hall, what you see is a Matisse painting of the dancers that was designed, painted just for this location, and it is -- it's sited in such a way to take advantage of light that crosses the gallery in various points of the day and it is really routed. Now, as far as the community is concerned, many people, from my mother-in-law to others, to my mom, have taken us kids there to see the art when we were little. There are many members of the community that have taught there, that are docents there, that are part of the museum experience and very much care and love the institution and would like to keep it and would like to share it.
Oh, yes. I would like to address that. There were, and it's a fair question. The Barnes really 97 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 lived in harmony with the neighborhood up until the early '90s from the 1920s, and at that point, Barnes' friend and person who carried on his vision after he died, whose name is Vialetta DiMasia, passed away and there were a series of directors and a director took charge of the institution named Richard Glanton, who seemed to have a different vision, and the institution was moved from being more primarily an educational institution to one where he wanted to make it more of a world-class museum. And in so doing, there was an immediate increase in the number of visitors, without making any request to the township or to the court, simply just doing it, and that led to a reaction where the neighbors partly trying to preserve the old Barnes as an institution, as an educational institution, and others opposed those efforts at expansion initially, and then at some point, the Barnes Foundation actually brought legal action against the 98 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 neighbors, many of the neighbors, and the township Commissioners and a lawsuit ensued. And the saddest part of the lawsuit is the dialogue between the neighbors and the Barnes ended, and it ended for a number of years because people were afraid to -- they were advised by counsel not to talk because they were being sued, and it was during that time of silence that the plan was really born to move the institution to Philadelphia. And by the time the lawsuits ended and the dialogue restarted, the train had left the station.
So you're suggesting that during that period of time of silence, that the decision was made to move the Barnes and if probably this incident hadn't occurred, we probably wouldn't be here today?
I believe so. As I recall, there was a dialogue about where to park buses and they were working 99 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 through those issues, and the same way that you're going to have to work through parking issues as well, and that's when the lawsuit was filed against the neighbors and the Commissioners. And it led to really an end of -- at least a suspension of dialogue.
Well, as you know, we're very pleased to have the Barnes here and it's unfortunate that that occurred that created that environment to look for a new home, but I think we're going to be happy to have it, but thanks for trying.
I understand this is an uphill battle, but I have to speak out, and I encourage you to consider even deferring the signing of this lease so that you don't put yourselves in a bind and this can be considered more thoroughly. Thank you for the opportunity.
Any other questions for this witness? 100 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, I just want to know if you could give me a figure on the attendance of visitors over the last few years at the Barnes. Do you have any idea? Do you have a ballpark?
I could not, but I know there are members of the Friends of the Barnes who are here.
Well, you mentioned in your testimony that you're looking for 140,000. And that would make it sustainable or profitable?
I'm just wondering how many people have been attending over the last few years.
Sorry. If I could try to answer it. Sixty-two thousand is 101 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 the present ceiling.
My point is, parking spaces, would they also be doubled at your present location?
No. There wouldn't be a need to double parking spaces at this location, because as probably what happened after the museum -- if the museum moved, the tickets are on a time-ticketed basis and there's a parking lot that could sustain that many visitors.
Okay. I'm just curious -- you could be honest with me, if you can -- did you receive any complaints from the immediate neighbors due to parking or other complaints that they may have had, either you or one of 102 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 the many Commissioners that are out there?
Well, I've only served for a year and a half, and the relationship and the period where there was some friction goes back really more than or years. The neighbors are 9 actually here, as is the -- 10
But it's 15 safe to say that there were people or 16 were some people or maybe still some people out there who don't favor the Barnes being in Montgomery County?
When I say the vast overwhelming -- I mean, as the Commissioner who has run for office and walked and gone door to door through that 103 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 and other neighborhoods, it was -- I mean, the numbers are in the upper 90 percentile that want the Barnes to stay.
You're very welcome, Mr. Gordon. Now if we could please ask the representatives for the Cultural Alliance, the Parkway Council and Logan Square to please come to the witness table. Peggy Amsterdam, Judy Rogers and 104 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Rob Stuart. My understanding, the Moore College of Art is prepared to offer testimony as well. We welcome you to this panel.
Councilperson, would the other members of this group be permitted to testify?
Yes. We'll have our staff person get the names and we'd be happy to call you up. Everyone who has a voice, we're here to hear the voices.
Good afternoon. My name is Peggy Amsterdam and I'm President of the Greater Philadelphia 105 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Cultural Alliance, which is an alliance of 330 non-profit arts and cultural groups in the region. The Cultural Alliance supports the decision of the Barnes Foundation to move to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This move will ensure the long-term sustainability of the Barnes collection and allow the educational work of the Foundation to continue. The new location will also have a tremendous impact on Greater Philadelphia, serving as an educational resource drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Parkway annually and further cementing our region's reputation as one of the great cultural destinations in the world. I'd like to respond to Councilman Kelly's comment about the competition between the other organizations. I am very proud of the cultural groups in this region, because we work very collaboratively. This is a new way that we work, because we 106 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 understand that we're not competing against one another. We're all working together for the benefit of the children, the residents of the region, and the economic impact that we have is outstanding. We are a large sector here, and I think you'll find that we are terrific at collaboration, and I think the show of support of the other cultural institutions is really very unique among other cities our size and that's why we are well recognized around the country as a great cultural capital. So we strongly urge the Council and these committees to approve this ordinance and allow this important project to move forward. Thank you very much.
Hi. My name is Russell Meddin and I'm here for Rob Stuart, who had to leave. I'm with the 107 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Logan Square Neighborhood Association and we are the community group that lives next to where the Barnes Foundation will be constructed if you approve this Ground Lease and it goes through, and we do hope that you will. I'd like to consider myself one of the plain people who will be going to the Barnes Foundation. I'd like to remind this group that it was our organization who, as Mr. Gordon said, after Richard Glanton had been the President of the Barnes Foundation, we sent a letter to Kimberly Camp, who succeeded him, and invited her to bring the Barnes to the Parkway, because we thought this neighborhood would love to have it if that neighborhood did not want it. The Logan Square Neighborhood Association is just in the heart of this part of the City, and the Parkway is our main street, and we really believe that this is a wonderful thing and great addition to the neighbors in this area. 108 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 But besides that, besides all the wonderful things that you've heard today, this is going to bring more jobs to Philadelphia. There's construction jobs, museum jobs, brings people in to see the City, going to bring more money to the tourist industry here, and this is a fabulous thing. But not only that, you've heard they're going to do education there, and, boy, our kids sorely need to have more opportunities in education. So this is a fantastic thing for the City of Philadelphia. I ask that you please consider approving this lease.
Thank you for your testimony. You did state your name for the record?
Thank you 109 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 very much. Please proceed with your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Judy Rogers and I serve as Executive Director of the Parkway Council Foundation. I have a very brief statement on behalf of our Board of Directors. For those of you who are not familiar with our organization, we were formed in 2003 as a coalition that represents the cultural and educational institutions in the Parkway area, as well as select businesses and residences. The Parkway Council is dedicated to ensuring that the Parkway realizes its potential as a truly unique cultural destination. Our members are committed to creating a distinctive, vibrant and welcoming place for local residents, visitors and the institutions and businesses that share the Parkway. With that in mind, we strongly support the 110 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Barnes Foundation's move to the Parkway and have in fact already welcomed them as a critical member of our organization. Their presence on the Parkway will bring new attention, excitement and obviously visitors to our unique cultural campus, and we believe that all of the Parkway institutions will benefit from having the extraordinary Barnes as a neighbor. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony. If we could please ask the Moore College of Art to come to the witness table. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon. My name is Lauri Mortess. I am the recently appointed Director and Chief Curator at Moore College of Art and Design. I'm speaking to you today on behalf of Moore College of Art and Design community and Happy Craven Fernandez, President of the College. Dr. Fernandez 111 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 also currently serves as the elected President of the Parkway Council Foundation Board of Directors. I would like to express Moore's enthusiastic support of the Barnes Foundation's move to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. As the nation's first and only college for women, Moore College of Art and Design prepares students for life-long learning and leadership in fine arts, design, art history, art education and curatorial studies. This extraordinary collection and school on the Parkway will expand accessibility to a world-class collection for Moore's BFA students and those enrolled in Moore's Young Artist Workshop and will offer residents and visitors within three walkable square miles and one of the largest concentrations of educational and cultural attractions in any city in the world. With this move, we are confident that the Barnes Foundation will 112 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 thrive in its role as an educational institution and outstanding museum. The many major Parkway improvements already underway will ensure that the Parkway and the Barnes' new location is visitor friendly, with easy pedestrian access and ample parking. The presence of the Barnes on the Parkway will greatly enhance the educational and cultural opportunities for our residents and help further enhance and affirm Philadelphia's standing as a world-class art center. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you.
We thank you, Moore College of Art. Next panel up, Sandy Bressler, Barbara Rosin and Margo Flaks. And we have a panel after this. Our final panel is after the next panel I've just called.
Could we set them 113 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 up the way we think?
Could we set the thing up the way we thought we'd like to do it? I mean, we all signed up for it.
Robert Zaller, Walter Herman, Sandy Bressler, Barbara Rosin, Margo Flaks and Jay Raymond. We would ask that you please state your name for the record and offer your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Robert Zaller. I am here today to ask you to help stop a robbery in progress. The object being stolen is the Barnes Foundation. It is located as it has been since 1922 on North Latches Lane in Lower Merion Township, a part of Greater Philadelphia. Its effects include $30 billion worth of art. And 114 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 you, the members of the City Council, have just been asked to become the receivers of stolen goods. I ask you to reject this role. I ask it on behalf of Lower Merion Township, the community in which I live, but also on behalf of Philadelphia itself, the community where I work and earn my living. I ask it on behalf of the Barnes Trust itself, whose interests I believe that I and my colleagues now best represent. I ask it, finally, on behalf of the general art community, both here and abroad, which values the Barnes Foundation as one of the great and unique sites of modern art in the world. The persons who have presented the bill now before you do not represent these interests. They represent the court-sanctioned hostile takeover of the Barnes that occurred three years ago. They represent a systematic campaign of fraud, misrepresentation and abuse. The course they propose to you would rob 115 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Lower Merion Township and Montgomery County of their proudest cultural treasure, a treasure that belongs to us and to you and to the world, but whose rightful custodians we in Lower Merion are and have been for more than 80 years. A lie has been deliberately spread about our community. The lie is that we do not care about the treasure that Dr. Barnes entrusted to us, that we are indifferent to its fate, and that we are even hostile toward it. This is one of the lies we are here to expose today. You have heard from Lower Merion Township Commissioner Brian Gordon and you will hear from others about the determination of our community to keep the Barnes Foundation in its historic home and about the plans we have put forward to remedy the wounds inflicted on the Foundation by its current and recent administrations, to ensure the financial health and stability of the Foundation, and to preserve it in its inimitable and 116 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 irreplaceable home forever, in the words of the resolution you have heard about. " This is the first reason why we come before you today, to ask that you halt a robbery in progress. Greater Philadelphia rests on the concept of regionalism, and regionalism begins with a respect for the diversity of the communities that compose it. Our community has not, to this point, been accorded that respect in this matter. It has been treated as a political, cultural and social void. It has been treated as if its greatest treasure was no part of its own history, its identity and its civic pride. It has been treated simply as if it did not exist. Lower Merion Township does 117 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 exist. Montgomery County does exist. And we ask of you today in the simplest terms for a recognition of that fact. Our mutual dependence and common growth as a region depend upon that recognition and the respect that flows from it in both directions, yours and ours. It is a matter of comity that you consult with our appropriate representatives before embarking on a course of action that will affect us, especially when we believe and have repeatedly stated that we are affected adversely, grossly and irreparably. Lower Merion Township has gone on record in opposition to the planned move of the Barnes Foundation in three separate resolutions, the most recent of which has called for those plans, as I've said, to be abandoned forever. The Montgomery County Commission has joined its voice to that of the Township.
So have Montgomery County's three state representatives and its national 118 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 congressional representative, Jim Gerlach. So have citizens throughout the county and the civic organizations that represent them. We are united as a community in opposition to the proposed move. We are united as a political jurisdiction speaking as one county to another. We are united as part of the general commonwealth that we all share in our determination to halt a course of action that would impoverish us without enriching you. You will not be enriched, because our loss cannot be your gain, any more than it would be our gain to put Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell in one of our town squares. You will not be enriched, but rather the reverse, because you are being asked to surrender a piece of prime real estate, the city's most precious financial asset, for less than a pittance. You are asked to surrender that real estate and all its rich potential for a 99-year lease that offers 119 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 you the munificent sum of $10 a year. And what, in dollars and cents, the hard coin of reality that you ladies and gentlemen confronted only a week ago from outraged parents and community leaders protesting cuts in public education, what do the robbers suggest you will receive? Not a single study exists to support the extravagant and unsubstantiated claims that 200 to 250 thousand visitors will attend the Barnes each year. No study exists to show how the Barnes will impact other cultural institutions in the City, particularly the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which would become its prime competitor. You just heard representation from someone from the Philadelphia Museum of Art that no, no, no, we're not going to be competitors. How do they know that? On what basis do they make that assertion? What study has indicated the distribution of tourist time and tourist attention in this City? It's our assertion that the 120 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Philadelphia Museum of Art and every other institution in this town will be impacted by the move of the Barnes, but how do we know what that impact will be? 5 million in perpetuity. Those are not my figures. 5 million in perpetuity. How would such a greedy orphan affect the funding needs of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Kimmel Center, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Museum of Art itself? What will be the impact on these institutions and on all the other cultural, educational and community needs of the City of spending the, yes, more than $300 million when all costs are truly added up in public and in private funds needed to relocate the Barnes? Is 121 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 that really a better, more cost-efficient solution than providing a daily shuttle bus to Lower Merion, where visitors to our community could see the real authentic Barnes in its original majestic setting? Lower Merion Township has already endorsed, as you have heard, plans to more than double the attendance levels at the Barnes, which are not being met even now. A cooperative partnership between Philadelphia and Lower Merion could accommodate all the visitors that could be reasonably expected to the Barnes at no cost to the City, at no risk to its other institutions and involving no surrender of its own assets. This partnership is within reach. We extend it to you with the hand of friendship and on the basis of our shared community interest. What, then, do we ask of you today? Talk to us. Initiate the dialogue that up to this moment has been 122 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 absent between us. Work with us to make the Barnes Foundation of the 21st century not only the incontestable art masterwork it is in itself, but a world-class tourist destination, a destination of whose profits you alone will be the recipient. Lower Merion has no hotels and few restaurants.
It will help provide tourist dollars for the Greater Philadelphia without siphoning them away itself. Keeping the Barnes in Merion is a win-win solution for Philadelphia. Anything else would be a tragic defeat for us both. We ask you as well to defer any action on the bill before you today until the move's sponsors can present responsible evidence for their claims in a public forum, a credible plan of financial operation and an impact study that will address the actual costs as well as the alleged benefits of their proposal. Until such time, action on your part would, I believe, be imprudent 123 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 in terms of your interests and disrespectful in terms of ours. There is no need for haste. There is every reason for careful evaluation and calm reflection and for the exploration of the alternatives we present to you today. Thank you.
Has there been any indication if the Barnes leaves its current site what will happen to that site?
I believe there's a plan to use it as an administrative center and to use the galleries to hang certain artifacts, but you would have to ask the administration of the Barnes Foundation what their plans are. There are all kinds of rumors about what will ultimately happen to that --
-- that it would 124 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 be acquired by St. Joe's and so forth, but that's -- the point is that the Barnes Foundation building emptied of its art would be as meaningful as the Louvre emptied of the Mona Lisa and all the rest of its paintings. The Barnes Foundation is its art. It's inseparable from it. The art is inseparable from that building.
I understand that, but I just would like to know -- and we'll ask the Barnes eventually -- what exactly the plan is after the museum is vacated. Thank you.
I might add that $12 million has just been spent renovating the Barnes itself in its current home. So it's state of the art.
Even though its fences aren't being painted on a very regular basis.
Thank you. 125 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Any other questions of this witness? (No response.)
Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Walter Herman. I'd like to add, Mr. Rizzo, I knew your father when he was, I guess, Inspector at West Philadelphia. I also met him in his office as the Mayor when I was a physician cardiologist in Philadelphia. I also was a plain person for a few years, having lived the first years of my life at 16th and Mount 17 Vernon. 18 Good morning. My name is 19 Walter Herman. I am a neighbor of the 20 Barnes Foundation. 21 The Montgomery County 22 Commissioners have passed a resolution 23 which states in part "be it resolved that the Barnes Foundation Board of Trustees should explore avenues to integrate 126 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 visitation into the Philadelphia tourist experience without relocating the Barnes." I won't bore you with the resolution in its entirety, as you have a copy of the information packet that the Barnes Friends have given out. This week, Montgomery County will be voting on the choice of a lawyer to represent their interests in this matter. This move of the Barnes' artwork is not a done deal by any means. Those sponsoring the move claim that they are doing so in order that the common man will be able to see the artwork more easily. This sounds good, except that the common man actually knows how to take a train and a bus, and if they want to see the Barnes Foundation and experience it in its totality in the 12 beautiful acres that surround the property, they can do that now. With the increased numbers suggested by the neighbors and the township, 140,000 127 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 people a year could experience the real thing. If it is destroyed, no common man will ever experience it again. We all need to fill our eyes and ears with the beauty of art and nature in order to be the best that we can be. At the Barnes in Merion, there is space and time to do that. There it is possible to breathe the air of another time and experience the depth of one man's vision. Can we afford to destroy his dream? He had a taste and intelligence to collect this world-class art and house it in a jewel box of gallery. We must not do it. Additionally, I must add that if there is such a thing as regionalism and if it does exist, subjects such as SEPTA and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission certainly are important cooperative issues which should you so choose to deal with with Montgomery County. 128 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Lastly, Philadelphia may need to insert itself into the litigation which is soon to be filed. Thank you for your time. I also am a neighbor and have been sued by the Barnes Foundation. So in answer to your questions about the hostility of the neighbors, I'd be happy to answer any questions that are proffered.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Next witness.
Good afternoon, members of City Council. My name is Sandy Gross Bressler. I'm a Philadelphian. I've lived here for over 35 years, and I love this city. I am an arts professional, having worked in museums and for this City's Office of Arts and Culture and as Executive Director of the Art Commission. I've also been a student at the Barnes Foundation in both the horticulture and art programs. I would like to share some 129 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 thoughts as you consider the lease of City land for the Barnes Foundation. The proposed lease is fundamentally misconceived because it is based on a false premise. The false premise is that the Barnes art collection should be moved to the Parkway. If the Barnes art collection is moved to Philadelphia, it will be the destruction of the Barnes Foundation. This is because the art collection is one part of an interrelated, integrated and indivisible whole. This fact was conveniently omitted by Mr. Gillman in his testimony. The Barnes is an absolutely unique institution, composed of two schools, art and horticulture; the superb art collection and its special installation; the mature arboretum with wonderful gardens and collections of rare plants; and the art gallery building itself, which was designed specifically for this collection in this location by 130 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Paul Philippe Cret, the noted Philadelphia architect. I'd like to try to explain how all of these elements are seamlessly integrated at the Barnes. Art students are taken out to the gardens to get a sense of entering into a painting. Horticulture students study composition and design in the art gallery. Trees and plants reflect artistic principles, relate to specific artworks and echo elements of the gallery. The gallery building is itself a piece of art, with sculptures and African motifs integrated into the facade and throughout the interior. Inside the gallery, the individual works of art and their spectacular arrangement are the subject of the education program. As an aside, the gallery rooms are where the art classes are taught. There are no separate classrooms at the Barnes Foundation. It is this essential unity, 131 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 this overwhelming aesthetic experience that will be destroyed if the art collection is moved. The Barnes Foundation in its totality is a work of art and a historic treasure. " To remove the art collection is to eviscerate the Barnes, literally to rip the guts out of the institution. It is contrary to every precept of historic preservation and responsible art stewardship. To move the art collection is wrong and it is unnecessary. There is such an easy solution, and it would benefit both Philadelphia and the Barnes. A shuttle bus from the Art Museum to the Barnes Foundation would do it. You could take one of the most beautiful and fascinating rides anyone could experience anywhere in the world. You can think about it in your mind, I 132 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 think, along the river, looking up at the Art Museum, past the boathouses, through the park, by the Japanese House and Garden or by Memorial Hall and the soon-to-be Please Touch Museum and travel up the street that was the entrance to the Centennial Exposition. This is the real Philadelphia. These are our own cultural treasures and resources, and we should be proud to show them off. And there are other options that have not been explored and that would offer more for both Philadelphia and the Barnes. For instance, create a satellite Barnes on the Parkway or a Barnes Visitor's Center. Let's think of ideas that would offer more for both rather than less. The Barnes cannot be replicated. It can only be diminished and ultimately destroyed. As Richard Lacayo of Time Magazine put it, "the snatch and grab solution of relocating the collection to Philadelphia is no 25 solution at all. It isn't salvation.
It 133 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 isn't even euthanasia. " You know, the true story of Albert Barnes and his long-running feud with Walter Annenberg and his animosity toward the Philadelphia art establishment is a great story. You couldn't make it up. And it would delight tourists. Let's not accept the fanciful tales and revisionist history that moving the Barnes will save it and that this is what Dr. Barnes would have really wanted. That is simply not true, and it flies in the face of Dr. Barnes' stated wishes in his Will and Indenture. Just as we are not covering up the site of George Washington's slave quarters in Independence Mall, let's not cover up what is really going on with the proposed move. " I urge you to step back and do the same for the Barnes. 134 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. You have three additional witnesses?
I feel like this has been an endurance contest for the past four and a half hours. Those of you who have been here all that long, thank you. My name is Barbara Rosin. I'm a landscape painter and an art teacher. I pay Philadelphia real estate and wage taxes. And I think it would be gross financial mismanagement to use taxpayer money to help finance a Barnes move. In June 2006, on the very same day that the Governor announced a $25 million state gift to assist this move into Center City, which requires the City to pay an additional $25 million in 135 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 additional matching money, on that very same day, the Pennsylvania Legislature announced a $25 million cut for the Philadelphia School District. How ironic. Well, I want my taxpayer money to help the schools improve so that families will want to stay in Philadelphia. Less than two weeks ago, the Fairmount Park Commission voted to lease prime Parkway land to Barnes for $10 a year for 99 years. How absurd. Yet, last week, President of the Commission, Robert N.C. Nix, said funding is the Park Commission's major problem. Thirty years ago, Park employees numbered more than 600. Today that number is 175. Those of us who have been here since 9:15 heard about the horrible problems of violence and dogs who are being trained on the leather straps of swings. I mean, these are real problems that the Park Commission is facing, that if they had more money, maybe could be 136 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 better addressed. I would like my money, my tax money, to help the Park system be the best that it can be and attract all kinds of Philadelphia citizens to it at all hours of the day, all over the City. As I said, I'm a landscape painter and that's really why I'm here today. I travel a great deal and meet other artists from all over the world literally, many of whom have come to Philadelphia to see the Barnes. Contrary to what you may have heard, we are the laughing stock of the international art world to have taken this ridiculous idea this far. The Barnes is our region's gem, a unique treasure in the world of aesthetics and art history. This setting makes it so, as you've heard, the arboretum and the famous architect Paul Cret's magnificent building. When natural light comes through windows in one of these small rooms to reflect the 137 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 blues or rose pinks in a Matisse landscape and the eye also glimpses at an old copper beech tree just yards away out the window, it affects the viewer in a rare way, and the memory of that experience remains. To try to recreate anything remotely similar is impossible. And why would you want to? How can an Epcot-like reproduction of Italy compare with the real thing? And why would you want to spend all together $300 million or probably more to destroy, I think, our country's unique art experience when if your goal is more tourists, then offer them, as we've said, the 10- to 15-minute shuttle trolley through beautiful West Fairmount Park so that tourists will experience the magical place of the real Barnes. A minuscule fraction of the money would be spent. Not even minuscule. You can't compare how little money that would cost. The sanctity of a man's Will would be upheld, which is no 138 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 small matter, I would think, and we would be one step closer as a great city to being the best we can be. This cannot be a King Solomon issue of deciding who owns the baby. To move the artwork out of its necessary setting destroys the jewel, and the whole Philadelphia region loses. I would like to just close with urging those of you who have never been to the Barnes, or maybe haven't been in a long while, to delay any decision you make and take a field trip out there as a group, and I think you'll see what we're talking about. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon and thank you for allowing me to come and speak. My name is Margo Flaks and I was born, raised and educated in Philadelphia, a product of its public schools and two of its universities. I have long visited and loved its museums 139 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 and libraries, its parks and magnificent drives along the river. The Symphony and Chamber orchestras nourish my spirit, while many theatre offerings provide both entertainment and thought. And though currently a resident of Lower Merion, I treasure Philadelphia and will continue to enjoy and financially support a number of its splendid cultural institutions. I also like to think I have contributed to the City in some small way through my 40 years as a teacher, teacher trainer and mentor to beginning teachers. I suspect I'm one of the few people speaking today who actually has worked with the school children of Philadelphia. As an educator, I found the cultural resources both within and outside the City invaluable aids in my teaching. The encyclopedic range of the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the history to be gleaned from the paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy, the warmth and intensity of the Todd and 140 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Bishop White Houses, the look of the mid 19th century at the Hagley Museum near Wilmington, the tranquility of Longwood Gardens, all within the City and outside the City, made school so much more alive and compelling for my students. We seem now to be in an era of shortfalls. In our schools, budgets are cut. There are insufficient number of counselors. Library personnel have been decreased and music and art programs drastically reduced. Where are the patrons of the arts to come from in the future if we do so little to introduce art to our children today? And our cultural institutions are also suffering. The Free Library's building plans have needed to be revised. The Academy of Natural Sciences considers selling its fine mineral collection and reducing its research programs. The Kimmel Center is in need of funds. Fairmount Park has not the funds to maintain adequate staff. 141 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Yet, there are plans to spend upwards of 200 million, if indeed it can be done for that amount, to move an art collection from its 80-year-old stately home to a location just minutes away 7 and, in so doing, destroy a truly unique 8 and beautiful institution. Nowhere in 9 our area, perhaps the world, exists an 10 institution quite like the Barnes, with 11 the galleries and gardens all expressing 12 the thought and aesthetic of one 13 particular individual. The paintings, 14 furniture and metal objects are arranged 15 not so much with regard to an idea with period or historic context, but rather with an eye to shape, line, color and relationships. There are individuals who have found the arrangements quirky or puzzling, but many have found it enormously satisfying to discover the lessons within the galleries for themselves. And then there are those who have had the opportunity to study at the Barnes who have stated plainly it changed 142 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 their lives. Some time ago Michael Nutter, then a member of City Council, introduced a bill to create a special services district along City Avenue. Its major aims were to provide a suitable environment for existing businesses, encourage new development and to provide safer streets for the expanding St. Joseph's University and the residents on both sides of the street. It was a great opportunity to introduce a spirit of cooperation and appreciation between city and suburb which would benefit all. Much hard work has gone into the development of the area and there have been many discussions and some disagreements along the way, but the district, still planning, as changes continue is considered a great success. It is safer.
Many areas are more attractive, and both sides of the avenue are learning to work together. The Barnes Foundation offers 143 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 still another opportunity for city and suburb to work together to solve the financial difficulties that have beset it. I urge you, if you have not already done so, or even if you have, to again walk through the arboretum, visit the Jacques Lipchitz sculptures and then go in and visit the galleries, glancing from time to time at the gardens and try to discern their relationship to the paintings. Understand for yourselves the reasons why it makes so little economic or artistic sense to relocate this jewel. I ask you please consider all of this before you cast your vote. Thank you.
My name is Jay Raymond. I brought prepared remarks, but I'm going to skip them for the moment, because I would just be repeating many of the things that my colleagues here have 144 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 already said. I do want to respectfully disagree with the remark that was made that this is a no-brainer, because as we've seen, the Barnes Foundation brought a lot of brainpower here to convince you that this is the right thing to do, and I think our side should be accorded the same respect. I also happen -- I don't know that I'm one of the plain people that Dr. Barnes -- that the people in charge of the Barnes Foundation keep reminding you that that place is supposed to be for, but I am plainer than most. My parents grew up mostly in Philadelphia, working in shops and factories, and I've spent years of my working life being a 20 heating mechanic and a heating contractor 21 repairing the heating systems of 22 low-income families in Philadelphia. I 23 worked for two non-profits providing those services and did so myself as a contractor to PHDC. So I have a great 145 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 deal of familiarity with this entire City. I also was a student at the Barnes Foundation in the '70s when I was at Temple University, and I have been a teacher in the faculty at the Barnes Foundation. I have studied at the Barnes Foundation for a long time. I am currently a student. I've also read nearly everything that Dr. Barnes ever published. So I consider myself nearly an expert on his ideas, having read his ideas and studied his ideas. Make no mistake, please. There is nothing in this plan that has anything to do with what Dr. Barnes intended for his art. The folks in charge over there repeat that line, for the appreciation and education in the fine arts. They don't know what that means. They think that education is building classrooms and filling it with kids. The classrooms at the Barnes Foundation are the galleries. The kind of education that the Barnes 146 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Foundation has nothing to do with the kind of education that they're intending to create there. I'm not denigrating that kind of education that they're intending to create. It already exists in many places and in many fine institutions. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a fantastic program. And so will the Barnes no matter where it is. But the kind of education that Dr. Barnes sought for the plain people and for everyone is the kind of education that changes your life, that changes the way that you view yourselves, the way you view the world, the kind of education that lifts you up. It doesn't just fill your head with some polite information about who the artist was or where he came from or who she was. That sort of education is not being supported at the current Barnes Foundation and it will not be supported at the new Barnes Foundation. The new Barnes Foundation will have nothing to do 147 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 with the old Barnes Foundation in any way. Dr. Barnes' ideas are often sort of ridiculed and played down. Yet, it is those ideas that form that institution. The man wasn't a genius at collecting art and an idiot when it came to talking about it. He understood what he was doing, and he understood what kind of school actually would benefit people. So you get a choice here. You get a choice to decide to listen to the folks who came before us and gave you all the reasons why this was going to do all this good for the City of Philadelphia or you get to listen to us, the people who live near the Barnes Foundation, the people who have been to school at the Barnes Foundation, people who take a day off of work, such as myself, to talk to you folks. I hardly see any of them still here. They've gone on. So I'll just now go to my 148 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 remarks.
Philadelphia cannot build its future on arts tourism by poaching paintings from its neighbor. It is already understood by the world art community that a Barnes on the Parkway means a desecration of a world treasure. It will always be understood. No matter how expensive and prestigious and beautiful the new container for the paintings is, the Barnes on the Parkway will not be the work of art that Albert Barnes created. It will be the work of vandalism that Pew, Lenfest and Annenberg created, subverting Barnes' legacy so it can become their own. The elected representatives of the township of Lower Merion and of Montgomery County have unanimously made their position on this clear: A Barnes on the Parkway is against the wishes of those communities. A Barnes anywhere else than where it is will never be for the 149 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 profound educational benefit of anyone, including the plain people. It will be an intellectually impoverished place. It will have lost its soul as someplace special. The Barnes could thrive in Merion if only its Board would commit themselves to it, something they have not done for nearly ten years and with appalling results. There is no sound justification or benefit to this scheme. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and I am certain this is one of those cases. The world would cheer now and forever if you decline to approve the bill before you. You have more than enough reasons to vote against this bill. You only need to do so. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your testimony. Thank you all very much. I think Councilman Rizzo would 150 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 like to hear from Mr. Gillman. He had a question about the reuse or the potential use of the existing site.
Councilman, you asked about the use of the Merion building and the grounds after the collection is moved to the Parkway. The arboretum will obviously stay. I say "obviously." There's no intention of moving trees. It will continue to be the center of horticultural education of the Barnes Foundation. But I would say that the intention is to create a very fine landscaped environment on the Parkway as well. So, in fact, the horticultural activities would increase at the Barnes, because not only will we have our country estate Ker-Feal out in Chester County, which has many horticultural specimens and active horticultural work, but will continue to develop the arboretum, as we do continually, and will also work on the Parkway to make sure that really is a remarkable and integrated environment for 151 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 art and the collection. We shall move the archive, which is currently housed in the administration building, into the main gallery to create a research center, and I am sure that we shall develop more programs going forward. It's a capacious building. It's a building that I'm sure over the next many decades will see more and more activities. But I think one thing that's really important -- and I say this as somebody who has lived in Merion for nearly eight years -- we will make it more accessible to the neighbors in terms of people being able to come onto the grounds and actually enjoy the arboretum. So it's not, in any sense, that the wonderful country house atmosphere is going away. If anything, it will be more part of the environment, and we look forward to really making it -- continue to make it a major center of horticultural activity.
So then the 152 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 possibility of that relationship between the Barnes Philadelphia and the Barnes Lower Merion could still occur where the shuttle could bring people back and forth?
And there could be developed a relationship during this process to hopefully continue on in Lower Merion? I see a lot of heads shaking back there. But that is something that you would consider?
Absolutely. And there was one comment which was made about there have been rumors and fears about sale of the land to St. Joe's. It is very clear that we will continue that maintain the property. We will continue to maintain the arboretum. We'll continue to develop the horticultural programs.
Thank you. 153 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462
And Chairwoman, Councilwoman Brown. My name is Patricia Washington. I'm representing Meryl Levitz, the President and CEO of Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. I am Vice-President of Grants and Development at GPTMC, and as the organization charged with promoting Philadelphia to regional, national and global audiences, I am here to express GPTMC's support for Bill 070462 related to the Barnes Foundation's move to the City of Philadelphia. The move means that the Barnes, one of the world's most significant art collections, will be relocated to the 154 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Here, the singular and priceless asset cannot only survive but thrive, free of the strict limitations on visitation, accessible to all and at a place where it can leverage the greatest value for our City and region. To be competitive in a global market, Philadelphia must constantly and strategically invest in new attractions and amenities. Tourism is a major economic engine for our City and region, generating $16 billion a year. That's $16 million per day in direct, indirect and induced visitor spending, employing 126,986 people, generating over a billion dollars in local, state and federal taxes. We've seen overnight visitation increase 55 percent between 1997 and 2005. Adding the Barnes Foundation to the cultural jewels on the Parkway will help continue this momentum and increase the attention paid to and attendance at 155 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 other museums and cultural attractions around it. It would also enhance Philadelphia's image as a cultural city with a robust and richly diverse cultural environment, and would also enhance Philadelphia's image as a destination of national and international importance. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. Any questions? (No response.)
No, you can't ask a question, ma'am. I was asking members of the Committee. You can answer a question in the audience, but --
Thank you. If there are no other 156 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462 witnesses, this concludes the public hearing of the joint Committee on Public Property and Public Works and Recreation and Cultural Affairs. We will now go into the public meeting. Councilwoman Brown, may I ask for a motion on the amendment to Bill No. 9 070462.
Chairman Clarke, I would like to make a motion that Bill No. 070 --
For the record, there is an amendment. The attached Master Lease that is listed as Exhibit A will be an amendment.
That Bill 18 No. 070462 be amended -- Chairman Clarke, I make a motion on the amendment. (Duly seconded.)
There's a motion and a second. All in favor of the amendment to Bill No. 070462? (Aye.) 157 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462
The ayes have it. Councilwoman Brown, can I ask for a motion on Bill No. 070462 as amended.
Chairman Clarke, I make a motion that Bill No. 12 070462 as amended be moved out of Committee with a favorable recommendation and further move that the rules of Council be suspended so as to permit first reading at our next scheduled session. (Duly seconded.)
Those opposed? (No response.) 158 6/5/07 - PUBLIC PROPERTY & PARKS - BILL 070462
The ayes have it. Bill 070462 is reported out of Committee with a favorable recommendation with a rules suspension to allow reading at the next session of Council. Thank you all very much. This concludes the public meeting. (Joint Committees on Public Property and Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs adjourned at 2:00 p.m.) - - - 159 CERTIFICATE I HEREBY CERTIFY that the proceedings, evidence and objections are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me upon the foregoing matter on June 5, 2007, and that this is a true and correct transcript of same. ______________________________ MICHELE L. MURPHY RPR-Notary Public (The foregoing certification of this transcript does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means, unless under the direct control and/or supervision of the certifying reporter.)