City Extends Porkway Gallery Deadline

Has everyone seen the city staff’s drive-by gallery – pictures on 16 pricey pillars along Crown Valley Porkway? Self-styled gallery director Keith Rattay calls the pillars “frames,” bringing back memories of the 500 custom-built easels he ordered for the city’s 20th anniversary party. He also called the easels “frames.” The easels Rattay lined up around the community center in April 2008 didn’t attract much attention. However, they became newspaper headlines when a community watchdog discovered hundreds of them trashed on a hillside after the party ended.

Rattay’s grotesque picture gallery on Crown Valley has been the source of public outcry since it opened three months ago. Instead of declaring it an early Halloween exhibit, Rattay on Sept. 1 asked the public to submit photos to replace the ghoulish display. Giving residents a deadline of Oct. 1, he requested pictures that “capture the spirit of thankfulness and caring.”

Last week, an alert resident noticed that the deadline for submissions has been extended to October 15. Did Rattay’s invitation elicit no responses?

When residents didn’t respond to the city’s request for photos for the 20th anniversary easel gallery, city employees were pressed into service to take pictures around town. Their photos were impersonal – trees, rocks, leaves and sky – without connection to Mission Viejo because most city employees don’t live in Mission Viejo.

The resident who emailed the information about the extended deadline suggested the project could be “run through the schools” if Rattay became desperate for photos. After all, why not use children to prop up the city’s fiasco? City officials could then deflect remarks about the pillar mess by saying critics are mean-spirited toward children.

With 150-plus employees to take photos, Rattay might settle for a quick and easy way to fill the pillar “frames” He’s running out of options for claiming his thankfulness-and-caring exhibit on Crown Valley is engaging the community.