PRESCOTT ARIZONA REAL ESTATE – Mural

Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier, file photo Students from Miller Valley Elementary School, with instruction from the Mural Mice, begin to grid draw for the large mural on the east side of the school this past April.

By Cindy Barks The Daily Courier

PRESCOTT – Two weeks have gone by now since the start of the uproar over the mural at Miller Valley Elementary School, and the controversy does not appear to be going away.

Along with spurring a recall effort to remove Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair from office for his comments about the mural, the community debate also has aimed scrutiny at the Safe Routes to School program, the source of the money for the mural.

The controversy began after information emerged in early June that school officials had asked the mural artists to lighten the faces of the children in the mural. Protesters later converged on the school at the intersection of Willow Creek, Iron Springs, Miller Valley and Whipple streets, and school officials withdrew their request.

Blair became involved because of earlier comments he made on his talk-radio program, asking why the main subject of the mural was black. A recall effort and an apology by Blair came on June 8.

Since then, questions also have centered on the use of public money for projects such as the Go on Green mural, which depicts children of several different races using forms of alternative transportation.

At Wednesday night’s meeting of the Central Yavapai Metropolitan Planning Organization (CYMPO), for instance, Prescott City Councilwoman Mary Ann Suttles maintained that Safe Routes to School money should go mainly toward infrastructure improvements that help children get to school safely.

“Our only question is to make sure it has to do with sidewalks and crosswalks,” Suttles, who serves as Prescott’s representative on the CYMPO board, said during discussion of the organization’s draft Transportation Improvement Plan, which includes Safe Routes to School infrastructure money.

Added Suttles: “We’re trying to keep it in the true sense it was brought about as, and not necessarily murals.”

Lisa Barnes, director of Prescott Alternative Transportation (PAT), which oversees Prescott’s Safe Routes to School, said she has fielded many questions recently about the program.

Barnes stresses that Safe Routes to School grant money comes in two different categories: non-infrastructure money, which goes for education and encouragement; and infrastructure money, which goes toward actual improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks and signage.

Along with the $35,000 to $44,000 in non-infrastructure money that PAT has received for each of the past three or four years, another $472,000 in Safe Routes to School money is going for school-area improvements.

The city’s engineering department is planning a number of improvements with that money, including sidewalk improvements near Mile High Middle School, Miller Valley, Mountain Oak Charter School, and Taylor Hicks Elementary School.

PAT also recently got word from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) that the local Safe Routes to School program would get two new grants, totaling $304,000, for the coming year. Of that, $44,000 would go toward education and encouragement activities, while $260,000 would go toward building new sidewalks around Lincoln Elementary School.

In addition, the City of Prescott has some involvement with the education and encouragement money, because the Prescott City Council agreed about three years ago to front half of the money to PAT while the organization waits for grant reimbursement from ADOT.

In December 2009, the City Council voted 5-2 to approve the latest agreement with PAT – “to advance funding in the amount of $20,000 for implementation of the Safe Routes to School program.” Only Suttles and Councilman John Hanna voted against the agreement, while Blair was among those voting for it.

Barnes said PAT initially approached the city about fronting the money for the program several years ago, because all Safe Routes to School money comes on a reimbursement basis.

“We have to spend the money and then collect it (from ADOT),” Barnes said, adding that as a non-profit organization, “We just don’t have that kind of cash-flow.”

Prescott Budget and Finance Director Mark Woodfill noted that while most grants the city receives are reimbursement grants, he said, “This one is a little different because the grant agency pays PAT and then PAT ends up paying it back to us.”

Barnes and Safe Routes to School coordinator Paul Katan say the non-infrastructure money goes for a number of uses, such as free bike helmets, bike rodeos, Katan’s salary, and the murals.

To date, Safe Routes to School has paid for two murals – the one at Miller Valley, for which it paid $5,500, and the first mural at Mile High Middle School, which cost $8,900.

Barnes said the idea for the Miller Valley mural stemmed, in part, from the success of the Mile High mural. She measures that success, in part, by the positive reaction from the school. “I got nothing but positive feedback from the school,” she said.

Katan added that Safe Routes to School also measures success through quarterly travel tallies at the schools to determine how many students are walking or riding to school.

Because of the Mile High success, Barnes said Lisa Packard from the Highlands Center for Natural History approached PAT about combining the alternative transportation theme with the center’s natural habitat theme for a “green” mural at Miller Valley.

PAT began its discussions with Miller Valley teachers and administration in about fall of 2008. Discussions continued over the next months, and in May 2009, PAT learned that it would get the grant money to pay for the mural.

By about October or November 2009, PAT and mural artist R.E. Wall of the Mural Mice, who also did the Mile High mural, visited the school to begin planning for the Miller Valley artwork. Barnes said the planning involved several more meetings with the Miller Valley students and teachers to determine the design for the mural.

On March 23, Wall took the ideas for the Miller Valley mural and another one at the city’s Acker park to the Prescott City Council for a presentation. City minutes from that meeting show little council discussion after the presentation.

Community questions about the mural also have focused on the state’s involvement. The questions prompted local state Rep. Andy Tobin to compile information about the program this past week.

The information stresses that Safe Routes to School is a federal program, for which ADOT reviews the grant applications. The state also handles the reimbursement of the money – “no up-front money,” the release states.

The state information also points out that local Metropolitan Planning Organizations (such as CYMPO) review and rank the applications before ADOT receives them – “providing another layer of local oversight into those programs…”

Barnes said PAT took on the Safe Routes to School program about four years ago, because, she said, “No one else was going for it, and it meets our mission, which is a bicycle and pedestrian-friendly community.”

Even after the controversy, Barnes still maintains that the Miller Valley mural was a success. “Not everybody’s going to like it, but that’s the nature of public art,” she said.