Oh, the Irony

Commissioner Mike Clark forwarded this information to most of the print/online press in Washoe County yesterday.

Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill twisted fellow Commissioner Clara Andriola’s arm so hard to get $500,000 in federal ARPA funds allocated to the Nevada Museum of Art, it’s a wonder Andriola didn’t walk into the next meeting in a sling.

The cause? The “relocation” of Las Vegas’s Seven Magic Mountains installation — a towering pile of rainbow rocks in the desert — to somewhere “more refined,” like Northern Nevada. The problem? The artist behind the boulders, Ugo Rondinone, has apparently realized that stuffing neon rocks next to a wildfire-prone Tahoe community isn't quite the visionary masterpiece he imagined.

So, now half a million dollars—your half a million dollars—sits in limbo. Not fighting fires. It's sitting in the Museum of Art’s couch cushions, earmarked for a sculpture that doesn’t want to move here.

But don’t worry. Alexis Hill still got a win out of the deal. How? Well, mere days after the vote, one of the museum's trustees just happened to throw her a swanky, big-ticket political fundraiser. Isn’t that neat? Pay it forward, political edition. Who needs ethics when you have catered hors d'oeuvres and wine pairings?

And let’s not forget the lone voice of reason in this whole circus: Commissioner Mike Clark. He raised the red flag early, probably while dodging side-eyes, dramatic sighs, and invisible laser beams from Hill. He dared to suggest that federal relief funds meant to help people maybe shouldn’t go to moving rainbow rocks across the state. Radical, we know.

Meanwhile, the communities most at risk for fire, flood, and bureaucratic neglect still wait for an evacuation plan — yes, we know a secret individual donated funds for the project .. perhaps they can follow the trail of painted boulders out of town if the evacuation study isn’t completed.

The artist bailed, the sculpture stays in Vegas, and Commissioner Hill’s got a campaign donor happy as a clam.

Seven Magic Mountains? Try Seven Layers of WTF.