PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) - A city is abandoning plans to sell two million-dollar paintings as a means to fund a new program aimed at helping students financially prepare for their future education.
Officials in Plainfield have instead opted to create a seven-member commission to review all aspects of the Plainfield Promise program and deliver a report in six months, The Courier News reported (https://mycj.co/2n3IU8s).
“We want to put together a Plainfield Promise which will place the next generation and the next in a better position than the current one; and a Plainfield Promise which the community will embrace and work with the administration to bring to fruition,” Mayor Adrian Mapp said Wednesday.
Mapp first announced the initiative during his State of the City address last month. Under the program the city would set up a bank account for every kindergarten student to promote financial literacy and establish college savings and scholarship funds for high school graduates who lack financial means.
The Democrat caused a stir when he stated last week that Plainfield would seek to sell two city-owned paintings by German-American artist Albert Bierstadt to fund the program.
Queen City Pride, a grassroots civic organization, was preparing an attempt to block the city from selling the paintings.
“We have to protect our assets,” member Timothy Priano said. “If you want to give kids $500, don’t take that from what we have. Don’t sell our assets. Don’t sell art. Use it to teach kids what went on.”
“The Landing of Columbus” and “Autumn in the Sierras” both hung in Plainfield’s municipal court. They were gifted to the city in 1919 by Dr. J. Ackerman Coles. Auction houses have appraised the works at several million dollars.
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Information from: Courier News (Bridgewater, N.J.) , https://www.mycentraljersey.com
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