Like most states, Rhode Island is in a budget crunch. One partial solution, proposed by legislators last week, is a cap on art for public buildings.
As the Providence Journal says, the proposal was spurred in part by a few high-profile, high-ticket items:
First there were the $84,000 neon lights on the side of the Rhode Island Convention Center.
Then there was the $100,000 recording of birds chirping outside the new Kent County Courthouse.
And who can forget the proposed $500,000 cloud machine that would have floated into the terminal at T.F. Green Airport years back?
Of course the argument against the proposed cap is pretty obvious -- public art is about civic pride, opening residents' minds to new ideas, etc.
But it's a little hard to argue that the state should continue funding art at the expense of, say, teacher salary raises or state trooper staffing.
Still -- cap or no cap -- can we please find some way to fund that cloud machine? How freaking cool would that be??
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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