Letters to the Editor: As NEA grants are targeted again, a reader recounts how one made an impact

To the editor: Upon receiving my bachelor of architecture degree in 1973, I was hired by the urban design unit of the city of Chicago’s planning department. My job was to be the main writer of a community development guideline document for the redevelopment of the downtown banks of the Chicago River. This position was funded in its entirety by a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and the document was published in 1974 (“Art for art’s sake, or the president’s?” May 27).

After moving to San Diego in 1982, my wife and I returned to Chicago in 2019. Much to my genuine glee, as we crossed the Michigan Avenue bridge over the Chicago River, I saw that nearly every concept in that NEA-funded document had come to fruition. The desired public-private investment into what was then a severely underutilized urban “amenity” had produced a full-of-life area in place of a semi-forgotten element of the city’s core (except for when it’s being dyed green on St. Patrick’s Day). Accessibility, climate considerations and the like were promoted in that 1974 document, and the proof of its value was in that corridor.

Would the city have paid for the document without the NEA? Perhaps, but with the NEA’s help, I am sure it was created much sooner and now has proved its long-term value. Saving a relative few dollars on such a valuable resource (for all of the arts) makes little sense.

Dan Linn, La Jolla