Scott Garner: 0-2 in My Book

Thursday, March 03, 2005, at 08:48AM

By Eric Richardson

You may remember that a little over a week ago I criticized Scott Garner over at LAist over a piece he wrote on the committee subway vote. Garner at the time wrote this:

Regardless, Labonge and his subway-lovin' wrecking crew will take their fight straight to the man tomorrow, going before the full MTA board to make their case that a subway that actually relieves traffic is a pretty darn good idea.

What are the odds that they'll be successful? About the same odds that Jamie Foxx will go home empty-handed on Sunday, but good on 'em for trying.

Of course the next day the board passed LaBonge's motion 11-2.

Today Garner has another piece on the subway, of course making no mention of his previous piece. And then he goes on to criticize the MTA's art program...

Fans of plop art take note: the MTA has added six new "artworks" to rail stations across the system.

For those who are interested, the MTA "art" program uses a .5% set-aside of construction funds to commission station "art". Since the FY '04 construction budget was $125 million, the MTA spent roughly $625,000 on these particular works of "art". We're sure they're worth every penny.

Goodness, that's harsh. Once again I ask, has Garner ever seen these pieces? I haven't seen most of the newly installed work, but I think the MTA's art program is fabulous. I love new ceramic mural at the Civic Center station entrance on Hill and 1st. I love how diverse the Metro Rail stations are. I think they really stand out from stations in other cities. I may not know much about art, but these pieces are definitely art (with no quotation marks, Mr. "LAist"), and the artists do a great job of designing the pieces specifically for their intended environments.