Raleigh loses $2.5 million gift of art

'The Council lost its vision,' Jim Goodmon says

RALEIGH -- The sudden exit of Raleigh's No. 1 patron and his $2.5 million killed downtown's marquee arts project Tuesday, a plaza of lights and falling water meant to reawaken Fayetteville Street.

Jim Goodmon, CEO of Capitol Broadcasting, revoked his gift, questioning the city's vision, imagination and courage.

Goodmon insisted he isn't angry that Raleigh leaders torpedoed Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa's design. But he said the yearlong experience left him unwilling to work with Raleigh on art.

"I'm done with the patron business," Goodmon said Tuesday. "The council lost its vision. I expected the mayor to at least fight about it. He ran with the herd."

For now, Fayetteville Street, which opened in July after 30 years of isolated slumber as a pedestrian mall, will remain a hopeful strip of artless asphalt, Mayor Charles Meeker said.

Before it opened, Meeker said, no one on the council understood the importance of keeping an unobstructed Fayetteville Street.

"You've got this priceless historic view between the Capitol and performing arts center," he said, "and it's hard for a public body to take a risk on changing it, especially when we've just re-created it."

Goodmon's exit comes as Raleigh is pumping millions into downtown projects, notably $215 million for a new convention center. Meanwhile, Fayetteville Street has opened, and activity is trickling back to a handful of restaurants and bars.

All along, Plensa's idea was to create a gathering place -- not a piece of art, said Larry Wheeler, director of the N.C. Museum of Art, who with Meeker worked on the project from its early stages.

People would congregate under a grid of LED lights flashing pictures and images overhead, sit on a plaza with a misty wall of water in the center or drive on black granite pavement surrounding the square.

From the time it was made public, Plensa's plan won raves and drew jeers. Others felt conflicted or confused by the combination of water, electronics, grass and light.

On July 29, Raleigh leaders stood on a platform and watched 60,000 people crowd a newly opened Fayetteville Street.

Seeing them there, bookended between Memorial Auditorium and the Capitol dome, killed the project's chances with council members. No one on the council wanted to disrupt Fayetteville Street's $10 million makeover.

"It would have been a reason to come downtown," Goodmon said. "There's no risk in leaving the street in here. It's tough to get a political body to take risks."

Shortly after the opening, City Manager Russell Allen reported that the project was still costing $1.75 million beyond Goodmon's gift, presented numerous practical problems and should be scrapped.

Goodmon called that report a "heat-seeking missile."

"The only thing he didn't say was wrong with the project was it causes obesity," Goodmon said.

Plensa won international attention after his Crown Fountain project in Chicago, which features two large towers that flash video images of ordinary Windy City residents. Before the pictures change, each person smiles as a jet of water sprays from his mouth.

Traveling Tuesday, Plensa confirmed he has withdrawn from work in Raleigh.

"It became clear to me recently that the needs and desires of the community are not the same as the wishes of the City Council and others in the municipality," he said in a prepared statement. "Clearly, Mr. Goodmon's withdrawal of his support for the project is also evidence of this."

Wheeler lamented Raleigh's loss.

"It's a sad day for the city," he said. "Jaume Plensa is an artist whose work is sought all over the world. He chose Raleigh, ... and we had an ambition for a piece of art that would define Raleigh. ... I think the rest of the country and the rest of the world will look at this as, 'Why?' "

Local artist Luke Miller Buchanan found out Tuesday on the Internet that Goodmon was withdrawing his support.

"I feel like it's a missed opportunity, but it really should be an eye-opener for a much larger problem," Buchanan said. "You can't just drag in big names and big projects and expect that to get Raleigh on the map for being an artistic community."

Goodmon said he had hoped for a December groundbreaking to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Capitol Broadcasting's WRAL-TV.

He said that even a month ago, he hoped to preserve the project and wrote each council member to defend the art plaza. Only one of them wrote back, he said Tuesday afternoon, declining to name the member.

"I don't want them to say anything but, 'We saw Fayetteville Street and we choked,' " he said.