Temple City council approves 26 utility-box artworks for Lost Tunis Drive, designates four backups

The Temple City Council on April 1 approved 26 primary designs and four backup selections for the Lost Tunis Drive utility-box public-art campaign, directing staff and the consultant to begin scheduling installations and a youth-mentorship program.

The campaign is being managed by 11-1ven Projects (the consultant) with Studio 111 participating remotely. Community Development Director Scott Reamers told the council the consultant will manage artist selection, payments, installation schedules and anti-graffiti protection, and will work with city maintenance on upkeep. "11-1ven Projects has experience working with youth," Scott said, describing the mentorship aim to pair one local student with each artist to learn installation and public-art processes.

Why it matters: the council framed the project as a streetscape element intended to reinforce Temple City's identity along Lost Tunis Drive while reducing vandalism on utility boxes. Council members pressed staff on how local representation was defined, how designs were vetted and who pays artists; staff said 150 submissions were narrowed in stages to 30 candidate designs before council review.

Key details: staff said the consultant narrowed an initial pool of roughly 150 submissions to 30 candidate designs and presented 30 images to the council and ad hoc committees; several designs were revised after Parks & Recreation and ad hoc comments. On licensing and ownership, Erin (consultant/staff) explained that artists retain copyright but license use of their work to the consultant and the city; commercial reproductions are prohibited. On compensation, Erin stated directly: "each artist gets $750," which covers preparation, materials and installation.

Council discussion focused on local relevance and variety. Multiple council members and members of the public raised concerns that several designs relied heavily on parrots and that themes tied to schools, local history (including the red-car streetcar motif) or youth activities were underrepresented. Some council members suggested staff could revisit designs that had been removed earlier in the vetting process if the council desired more representations of schools or local history.

Backup selections and motion: after a round of individual nominations for backup choices, council direction resulted in artworks numbered 10, 12, 26 and 30 designated as backups. A council member moved to approve the 26 primary designs and the remainder as backups; the motion was seconded and approved by roll call.

What happens next: staff will instruct the consultant to begin coordinating placements, finalize artist assignments to specific boxes (matching design complexity to box size), schedule installation dates (anticipated over several weekends in May and June), ensure anti-graffiti coating is applied and coordinate the youth-mentorship pairing with Temple City Unified School District. The contract arrangement places payment responsibility for individual artists with the consultant (the city pays the consultant’s fee), and the city’s maintenance staff is expected to be the first line of response for any damage.

The council did not identify individual artists for public release during the meeting; staff said artists’ names will be disclosed and artists may sign the boxes when installed. The council’s direction completes the city-level approvals; staff and the consultant will return to the council with implementation updates as timelines and placements are finalized.