Murals and Billboards

As a party with specific knowledge of the facts, I must conclude that Parachini, in his May 2 article, found it easier to be loose and creative than to inform himself of realities he obviously does not understand. This latter process would have avoided the dissemination of misinformation.

The Los Angeles City Building and Safety Commission did not reconsider or reverse its previous action relating to the work of artist Barbara Kruger for the Museum of Contemporary Art. Earlier, on the basis that the municipal ordinance limited the text on a mural sign to 3% of the area of the sign, and since the subject in question was 100% text, the panel on which I sit declined to approve the request for a minor modification. We then informed the museum that possibly it had filed the wrong appeal and perhaps its appeal should have been that the Department of Building and Safety erred or abused its discretion in determining that the work of art was a mural sign.

On May 1 we did consider this different appeal and what the writer interpreted as a “blunt” warning from the undersigned was a simple statement attempting to focus the discussion on the subject at hand and not to have it stray into areas beyond the appeal. The matter was concluded with a unanimous acceptance of the four members present that the subject matter was indeed a work of art based on the testimony by the members of the Cultural Affairs Commission.

BENITO A. SINCLAIR, Member, Building and Safety Commission, Los Angeles