Hi All. Jawj just sent me Prop E piecemeal, so I have copied it on Word.
I had to cut some stuff out as it was well over the 300-word limit. Please
review quickly as I am wrapping up the ballot measure submission by 10:00
and leaving for City Hall. Better to get 3 arguments in than zero!
*The issue is not support for the arts, but government subsidy.*
San Francisco's hotel tax revenue is currently available for any government
purpose. This provides maximum flexibility in allocating these funds to
the City's highest priorities at any time. So why does the City now want
to earmark a chunk of these taxpayer funds to the arts? *Are the arts a
higher priority than public transit, youth services, libraries, schools and
other services?* These are the budget items that the City Controller says
would be proportionately reduced by the proposed arts allocation.
*The arts in San Francisco will continue to flourish as long as they rely
on market forces instead of government subsidy.* All they need is an
art-loving public that sustains its favorites artists by buying their
works, attending their performances, or becoming patrons of their
non-profit arts organizations.
Government subsidies can only harm our large, thriving art market. They
would substitute a government committee's choice of which of their pet
projects and artists to fund for the many individual choices of a
crowdfunding consensus or a big fan base.
Government set-asides are generally inefficient. Funding allocations would
become entrenched and create vested interests among the artists having to
lobby for them. They involve grant-making committees, whose selection
criteria would inevitably favor political bias over aesthetic merit and
popular appeal.
A look at the current crop of San Francisco grant recipients is replete
with vague virtue-signaling references to "social Justice initiatives" and
"cultural equity." There are also nods to demographic groups that barely
exist.
Subsidies of the arts can create the same problems of waste and corruption
seen in banking, the housing market and other areas, complete with taxpayer
bailouts and the weakening of once-strong institutions and communities.
*Support the arts! Vote NO on E. *
Libertarian Party of San Francisco
Thanks!
Aubrey