Wachs Wants City to Build Fund for Arts

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs on Wednesday proposed raising $20 million a year for a new Los Angeles Endowment for the Arts by imposing a higher tax increase on hotel guests and requiring developers to pay for local art projects.

Wachs, who chairs the council’s Recreation, Library and Cultural Affairs Committee, outlined his proposal at a news conference and said it was time that Los Angeles turned its attention and finances to the city’s cultural and artistic needs.

Under the Wachs plan, 1% of the city’s capital improvement spending--or as much as $5.5 million annually--would be used for art programs in public buildings or parks.

Major commercial or industrial developers with projects costing more than $1 million also would be required to earmark 1% of their construction costs for cultural programs. Developers of projects that cost more than $250,000 and are located at one of the 37 “city centers”--where intense development is allowed--would be required to do the same.

Residential developments would be exempted. But, according to Wachs, private developers would still spend an annual $10 million for art exhibitions, artwork and cultural programs that could be viewed by the public.

Wachs, who must win council approval for his plan, said he favors a 1% increase in the current 10% “transient occupancy” or hotel tax to help pay for grants to individual artists or organizations. However, documents he presented to the City Council refer to an alternative--allocating one-tenth of the current hotel tax for the arts.

A seven-member Public Arts Committee, which includes artists, government officials and art professionals, would oversee the endowment. Wachs said the money raised could also be used to preserve cultural and historical sites.