Escondido residents and artists press commission to prioritize local talent in roundabout selection

Several Escondido residents told the Public Art Commission on Tuesday they want the city to prioritize local artists in the selection process for the Grand Avenue roundabout art project.

"Local art is most important when it's rooted in a local voice," said Damon Blackman, a 33‑year Escondido Unified School District employee who oversees after‑school programs. "Excluding them from presenting their own proposals disconnects the community from both its past and its future."

Other speakers at oral communications made similar points. Mark Zimmer, an Escondido resident, said the artist chosen for the roundabout should be able to present, and Ryan Ferguson urged commissioners to include local talent "if their proposals are worthy." James Stone, who identified himself as the husband of Chair Carol Rogers, criticized the process as "faulted dramatically," and urged either allowing the three Escondido artists to present, recalling the RFQ, or rewriting it to explicitly favor Escondido artists.

Colin of Glass House Arts told commissioners the scoring rubric used in the selection process appears to give disproportionate weight to paperwork and prior public‑agency experience rather than the art itself, which he said disadvantages local creators who lack institutional track records. "Public art's not a deliverable, right? It's a relationship that is created between us," he said.

Several commissioners acknowledged the public input and asked staff to explain the RFQ and selection steps at the commission's March meeting. Jennifer Schenick, the city's director of economic development, and staff recommended continuing the current selection timeline while arranging a March briefing that will lay out the process, the questions asked of finalists and options the commission could take — including pausing the process if it wants to revisit procurement or weighting policies.

The commission did not take immediate action to change the selection timeline; staff said pausing the process would reset the timeline and require subcommittee review and, potentially, city council approval for any budget or process changes.