Dear CPAG...

I hope Rob answers my email. I had the pleasure of meeting him on Monday this week. Articulate and passionate, he is a good spokesman for Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG). I invited him to present CPAG's position on the mural over Morse Avenue, as well as the upcoming mural project for the CTA wall between Morse and Lunt. Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 Subject: Morse Avenue Mural To: rob@cpag.net Dear Rob, Thanks again for spending time with me on the corner of Morse and Glenwood today. I appreciate your passion for what you do, and would like to re-state my invitation to you to write about CPAG and what they do. I will give you an open forum for the piece you write. As for how the community can be made to feel more a part of the process: Please understand (to repeat myself) that I have no quarrel with the Reeds or with the idea of public art per se. The only sore point in the specific case of the Morse Avenue CTA mural is the way in which DevCorp North put it out to the public. If you go to DevCorp's web site, at the very top you will see "Welcome to DevCorp North, Rogers Park's business, community and economic development organization." The problem, then, is not with the art or the artists per se. The problem is with the process by which a corporation (DevCorp) that is charged specifically with improving and helping the business community of Rogers Park. DevCorp did not open it up to Rogers Park bidding. The Rogers Park artistic community seems to have been ignored; many did not know about the project until it was already a done deal, and then it simply announced as a fait acccompli. So, regardless of the art itself, it is the process by DevCorp that is in question. Keep in mind that this is just one more instance of DevCorp (and the alderman's office) announcing that something has been done without any community input. But I digress. I want to get your side of the story. I sincerely hope you will accept the invitation to present the CPAG story and position to about 400+ readers daily at Rogers Park Bench (http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com). Sincere thanks and kind regards, Tom Mannis