“The African American Museum of Beginnings, the NAACP, Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, Unity Day organizer Ray Adamyk, and many others joined together for the unveiling of the Harriet Tubman statue on the grounds of Lincoln Park in Pomona Monday.” City Pride Magazine; July 8, 2022
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An unpublicized date after the July 4th event, 2022
National Sculpture Society News, NY, NY publishes “Manuelita Brown’s Harriet Tubman Unveiled”
“On 4th of July Manuelita Brown’s Harriet Tubman was unveiled to the public in Pomona, CA. The unveiling happened at the Unity Day L.A. celebration and Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval as well as representatives from The African American Museum of Beginning and the NAACP were present for the activities. After the unveiling, there was a half-mile walk for racial unity and community reconciliation which included all ethnicities, police, and the community walking together under the theme “There is a time to protest – There is a time to Unite.” Brown is a member of National Sculpture Society’s Southern California Sculpture Community.” National Sculpture Society
July 28, 2022
On July 28, 2022 La Nueva Voz, (The New Voice), a Bilingual (English/Spanish) Publication: Pomona’s only Community Newspaper publishes article entitled, “Statue of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman unveiled in Pomona’s Lincoln Park as ‘Unity Day’ activities unfold”
‘This in my view is the true embodiment of community,’ said Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, referring to people of all ages and backgrounds. ‘This is what a city should be is people coming together to love, to maybe even debate and discuss, but that’s what a healthy democracy looks like.’ He added that the statue will remain for generations to come as people come to Pomona to see it and so I see this beautiful statue as an opportunity, one of many opportunities, for us to bring folks together, Sandoval said.
‘Art has a way of bringing people together,’ Sandoval said. ‘As you know we have real serious social and economic challenges in this country and there is no group that has been harder hit than Black Americans in this country. There is more work to be done not only here in Pomona but all over this country,’ he said.
‘We have to work together to come up with the solutions . . . and so I see this beautiful statue as an opportunity, one of many opportunities, for us to bring folks together,’ Sandoval said.” page 2. La Nueva Voice
(Unfortunately, we could not quote the Spanish portion of Sandoval’s statement, due to the article not containing the Spanish translation. In fact, La Nueva Voz has very limited or less than 5% of Spanish translations for most of its articles, as it claims to be a bilingual (English/Spanish) community newspaper in a city that is 75% Latinx including Spanish speaking families.)
August 8, 2022
The City of Pomona hold a joint meeting with the Cultural Arts Commission (CAC) & Cultural Arts Citizen Advisory Committee (CACAC), Joint Meeting. This is the first time that any of the City of Pomona’s Commissioners and Committee members had the opportunity to review the proposal for the Harriet Tubman statue along with some 136 other applications for the funding of public art across the city. Prior to the meeting on August 8th meeting, the City of Pomona’s Planning Department sent the Cultural Arts Commissioners & Cultural Arts Citizen Advisory Committee Members this Conflict of Interest Disclosure:
(See Staff Report, Page 10)
“For all individual Committee Members and Commissioners, please note:
In light of the high dollar amount before the Committee and Commissions, a friendly reminder to carefully review the full list of artists and organizations and to timely disclose to staff any financial affiliations or connections with any individuals or groups on the list, as this would constitute a direct conflict of interest.
Also, please consider any formal or informal interactions that you may have had with individuals or groups with art proposals being considered for funding and be sure you are able to make a fair and unbiased decision.
Best practice dictates public disclosure of any interactions to avoid any appearance of bias. A conflict of interest arises when an individual’s personal interest or bias compromises his or her ability to act in accordance with professional or personal obligations.
Please feel free to reach out to staff should you need any clarifications.”
On August 8, 2022, no one on either the Committee or Commission recused themselves in spite of the fact that some Commissioners and Committee members attended the Harriet Tubman event in Lincoln Park on July 4th, some advertised the event on social media, some were featured in the advertisements of the event, and some spoke at the event. Unity Day LA
Both the Committee and Commission voted not to fund the Harriet Tubman statue for the $158,000 based on questions of:
Financial receivership: The application was originally submitted by Spectra Company, a private company, rather than a non-profit organization or individual artist. It was Ray Adamyk, President of Spectra Company who revealed during his public comments at this meeting that receivership should be changed to Village Pomona/PTowne, his non-profit. This non-profit lacked significant documentation of its non-profit status for the Commission and Committee to review at the time. It’s not clear whether or not the City of Pomona has received the appropriate documents from Village Pomona/PTowne to date. A google search for this non-profit has yielded little information. There is a PTowne website that advertises for tenants for the former YMCA building.
According to the P Towne website, P Towne is a "PROJECT FINANCED BY NEW MARKETS TAX CREDITS THROUGH NEW MARKETS COMMUNITY CAPITAL, LLC. A TELACU COMPANY, SHELF-HELP FEDERAL CREDIT UNION (SIC), U.S. BANK, AND CEDAR RAPIDS BANK & TRUST."
The high cost of installation requested by Spectra Company a for profit company
Aesthetic valuing/selection of appropriate site
Violations of City protocols - the advancement of one application over the 136 or so others submitted for Committee and Commission review.
The CACAC and the CAC voted not to fund Spectra Company. There are no minutes from that meeting.
September 19, 2022
City of Pomona City Council Meeting - Appeal Hearing
“7. Appeal of a Cultural Arts Commission Decision Denying the Award of Public Art Fund Dollars for Public Art (Sculpture) to be Installed at Lincoln Park
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the following resolution:
RESOLUTION NO. 2022-174 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF POMONA, CALIFORNIA, UPHOLDING CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION TO DENY A PUBLIC ART FUND AWARD TO AN APPLICATION FOR PUBLIC ART FOR A PROPOSED PUBLIC ART PIECE (SCULPTURE) TO BE LOCATED AT LINCOLN PARK IN THE CITY OF POMONA”
[time stamp, agenda item begins around 1:04:00
On Sept. 19th, Pomona’s City Council considered an appeal filed by appellant Ean Frank, Spectra Company’s Project manager for funding the Harriet Tubman statue. City Council overturned the CAC and CACAC’s decision not to fund, going against the staff recommendation by a vote of 5-2, amending the funding from the $118,000 requested to $42,250 for the maintenance and installation of the statue. The appeal doesn’t come from P-Towne Productions the alleged non-profit who resubmitted their application changing it from Spectra Company. The appeal comes from Spectra Company the private corporation.
Unfortunately, Spectra Company’s appeal formed much of the narrative of appeal. Since there were no minutes from the meeting of the Cultural Arts Commission and its Citizen Advisory Committee, the comments that carried over were mostly framed by the appellant, “Spectra Company”.
