Art or Not–You Decide

Haven’t done one of these in a while.

Fata Morgana, art by Teresita Fernandez, is on exhibit in Madison Square Park.

I found the installation interesting. What did detract from it were the girders and poles that were very industrial. From this framework was hung nearly 250 discs.

I happen to like walking under the discs. The sunlight distorts the cut metal shapes in the discs on the pavement.

Opinions?

 

What Happened to Schwarzman’s 100 Million to NYPL, and Woes for Queens Library

New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library

First things first.

Another negative article on NYPL, this one in the Daily News.

Stephen Schwarzman gave $100 million to NYPL, which was the biggest donation in the history of the library, prompting the trustees to rename the Humanities and Social Sciences Library at 42nd Street–the flagship, main library–the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Reporter Scott Sherman wants to know where the money went. NYPL just recently got back $39 million in funding from  New York City to stay open 6 days a week.

No one at NYPL has said much, including Schwarzman.

In the meantime, an article in The New York Times reports financial improprieties at Queens Library, one of the three public library systems in New York City. Thomas W. Galante, the president of the library system who was fired last December, is at the center of a $310,000 misappropriation of funds that the city comptroller has discovered during an audit. (Galante looks like a happy camper in the accompanying photograph.)

The comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, turned over the information to the IRS. The taint from Galante extends to the acting president, Bridget Quinn-Carey, as well as others, which prompts one to ask, whose snout isn’t in the trough?

Just the type of negative publicity that libraries need. Already there are people who think that public libraries are expendable; during budget cuts the libraries are the first to get hit.