Arts Plaza Groups to Be Combined

The four groups working independently to improve the exterior of the Civic Arts Plaza will soon come together in a single committee under a proposal approved this week by the City Council.

Thousand Oaks council members voted 3 to 1 this week to endorse Mayor Mike Markey’s plan to form a new committee that would review possible improvements and sponsorship opportunities for the City Hall and performing arts center. Councilwoman Elois Zeanah voted against the plan. Councilwoman Linda Parks was absent for that portion of the meeting.

Markey wrote in a report to the council that there are now four groups looking at plans to enhance the much-talked-about City Hall and performing arts center--the Thousand Oaks Arts Commission, the Civic Arts Plaza Board of Governors, the Alliance for the Arts and the council itself.

He initially asked the council to form an ad hoc committee made up of two members from each panel to review the different plans and make recommendations to the full City Council.

At the meeting, he added two citizen representatives to the committee.

“Each of these groups is acting independently,” Markey wrote.

“It would seem appropriate and prudent for the City Council to create a [committee] to fully review all options and present the City Council with a single, united recommendation regarding building identification, the copper curtain, and a naming opportunity for the Civic Arts Plaza.”

Among the proposals being discussed by the different groups for the Civic Arts Plaza are “enhancing” the copper curtain, the controversial artwork hanging from the east side of the building, and placing some signage on the building so commuters on the Ventura Freeway know what they are passing.