Not so colorful art
To the editor:
I read with dismay that the Cornelia City Council is considering bringing in artists to create their “mural,” art on our local buildings and walls.
I cannot recommend more highly that they not start down this road with this idea. All one has to do is go to Midtown Atlanta, like Moreland Avenue or Euclid Avenue and look at the unbelievable profusion of building art that has transformed that area into an ugly, blighted eyesore environment. I was there recently and the in-your-face weirdness gets tiresome fast.
Yes, at first this idea seems good and artsy, but what happens when a painter paints something that many consider ugly or even offensive? Do you cover it up? Do you bar some artists from displaying their “First Amendment” art? How do you keep political overtones out of the art? You think you can maintain control over the art by requesting a predrawing, but what happens in reality could be quite different. How do you decide what is appropriate and what is not? Wait until the rejection lawsuits start rolling in. Your idea is a regrettable slippery slope with no real upside in the long run.
And this is not to mention that eventually everything is painted over because you either could not stop the litigious or even illegal artists or worse, the ubiquitous taggers who will be defacing existing paintings or adding their trashy tags to the landscape. At this moment in time, you can't even get “Tim Loves Tink” off a railroad overpass, which by the way is fine.
Cornelia is desperately trying to attract Atlantans to our town. Perhaps even they want a change of scenery in our small town. Perhaps money and effort should be spent just making our town clean, accessible and pretty with landscaping. Sidewalks, grass bushes and trees and appreciated by everyone. Please leave the wall artists and the taggers to their ugly environment of the big city. Enacting this policy will become a big mistake eventually.
Jerry C. Reich
Cornelia
I’ll take that tower
To the editor:
I have a suggestion for the Orchard radio tower issue. This silly argument has gotten way out of hand. First, as a HAM radio operator, I have antennas all over my yard and I talk all over the world with my radios. I also provide a service to the citizens of the county as an Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) operator.
I have measured the RF exposure from my antennas and it is at completely safe levels.
I don’t have a tower which would make it even more safe. The argument that the radio tower is dangerous is completely idiotic and totally based on ignorance. Actually, stupidity. How many of them hold their cell phone to their ear? That is far more dangerous than the stupid tower!
I suggest that if The Orchard does not want it, that they be willing to give up police and fire protection since they seem to think that appearance is more important than their safety, not to mention they seemingly don’t care about the safety of the other citizens around them. I say, just let them burn and move the tower to my backyard so I can use it for my antennas too. Just saying.
JT King
Mt. Airy