'Wall Huggers' Fend Off Artists In Annapolis

Its seven volunteer members, appointed by the mayor, control all external changes to property in the historic district -- from the type of signs allowed to the material and style of glass a resident must use to replace a broken window. The commission answers to no one, and its rulings can be appealed only to circuit court.

Schmickle, a retired political scientist on Soviet matters-turned-Annapolis inn owner, has literally written the book on historic preservation ("The Politics of Historic Districts").

He explained the commission's duties this way: "It's not that people on this board are trying to make people do what they want. Over decades, you take out one thing that could have been saved and put in another that's inappropriate -- that adds up to death by a thousand cuts."

Four of the art project's six sites are within the commission's jurisdiction.

The artists say they chose those sites for their visibility and symbolic meaning: a painting near the bridge to Eastport to honor the working-class people who lived there; a folk-art rendition of Annapolis to hang at the City Dock; and one piece partly painted by inner-city children to hang facing Clay Street, a historically black neighborhood.

The photos intended for the parking lot were taken by renowned photographer Marion E. Warren, a fixture at the Irish pub next door until his death last year.

Some commissioners, however, fear the art could create precedent for other large-scale displays in town. Others want changes to the content, preferring, for instance, photos of buildings and landscapes rather than people.

An architectural adviser raised another concern: that people distracted by the parking lot's photos could lose "awareness from the need for safety around the moving vehicles."

When asked about details of the debate, organizers of the nonprofit project, titled Artwalk, spoke cautiously and in hushed tones.

"You have to understand, we're walking on eggshells here," said Charles Walsh, a retired lawyer spearheading the campaign.

"We've tried to incorporate their suggestions and change our thinking," said painter Sally Wern Comport, the project's curator.

At the core of the debate, preservationists fear the loss of something valuable through change, she said, while artists require bold moves in their quest to create something valuable. "Those are philosophical differences we're trying to bridge," Comport said.

The one thing the both sides want to avoid is another "flower basket" debacle.

Eight years ago, a fight -- this time between preservationists and business owners -- raged so fiercely that afterward a local nonprofit group arranged a series of formal talks to repair damaged relationships.

Business owners had wanted to hang flowers from the town's lampposts, but preservationists said, among other things, that the lamppost were replicas from 1826 and there was no evidence that flowers hung from them then.

Even now, "flower baskets" is whispered as shorthand around town, meaning the worst-case scenario when facing the commission.

"Annapolis, you see, is still very much a small town," said Gregory Stiverson, former president of the Historic Annapolis Foundation. "Any issue that comes along, large or small, chances are you'll have warring camps forming overnight."

For now, Artwalk's organizers are urging their artists to keep working so they can meet the 2008 anniversary deadline.

The commission had planned to settle the matter for good with a vote at a meeting tonight. But yesterday the board said it was postponing the vote so it could deal with the two sides' latest disagreement: whether art organizers had correctly posted notices for the meeting.