Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of the Department of Development to waive the competitive bidding requirements of Columbus City Code Chapter 329 and enter into a professional services contract with Designing Local Ltd., in an amount up to $750,000.00, for the City’s “Reimagining Columbus” project that is funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s “Monuments Project” program grant.
Designing Local Ltd shall serve as the City’s lead consultant for the “Reimagining Columbus” project. Through the Department of Development, the City applied for a grant to engage the community and generate discussion about the city’s namesake, Christopher Columbus, and to assess the future disposition of the Christopher Columbus statue that was created by Edoardo Alfieri and gifted to the City of Columbus by its Sister City of Genoa, Italy in 1955. The purpose of this project is to 1) methodically and inclusively host conversations to understand what Columbus residents value most, and how the city’s future symbology and public art landscape can communicate shared values and aspirations, 2) provide the public with opportunities to collaboratively ideate on the future disposition of the Christopher Columbus statue, and with requisite community buy-in, design a new space that allows the public to understand and physically interact with difficult history, and 3) create a replicable model for dealing with difficult topics within the community and pilot new community engagement methodologies, including restorative practices.
The City proposed the Reimagining Columbus project to the Mellon Foundation and was awarded a $2 million grant. As the lead consultant for project, Designing Local will be responsible for project management, community engagement, landscape architecture, and oversight of sub consultants. Sub Consultants will include experts in public engagement, cultural competency, public art, place making, and design and augmented with the perspecti...
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