I’m a bit confused about the amount of funding contributed to the project. The original Prove It! campaign pledged up to $50,000, correct? Am I to understand that the winning Greenspace idea required only $5,000?

The Prove It! page says, “entrants will be competing for up to $50,000.00 of funding to support implementation of their idea.” I watch enough DIY Network to know $5,000 is more than enough for the work shown on the video.

Looks like another misleading adventure…

Well, I’d only say its misleading in that it ended up being a much smaller project that the Prove It! campaign originally advertised. $50,000 can go a long way, and it seems a bit disappointing that the winning proposal used only a small portion of what was possible.

**I’m not trying to criticize the Greenspace — It was a worthwhile project, particularly if it only cost a few thousand dollars. But I’m wondering if perhaps SGA could fund another Prove It! campaign in coming semesters, since they ought to have an “extra” $45,000 laying around somewhere. With new students bringing fresh ideas, I think we could see even better proposals, perhaps ones that cost a bit more and have larger goals.

@Dave/others

SGA is indeed planning to repeat the ProveIT! campaign. As a matter of fact, there is talks of making it a yearly or biyearly occurrence. There’s currently a group of people analyzing how the contest went so we can brainstorm and improve the process when we hold the contest again. There’s far more than an extra $45,000 sitting around.

A lot of criticisms included that the contest was somewhat misleading, both in the amount of money actually being used for the project and the way that the winner was chosen (greenspace probably had the least amount of student support out of all the proposals but was chosen anyway for other reasons). I know that the student who RESIGNED from the ProveIT committee out of protest when greenspace was chosen, despite the lack of student body support, led the committee to re-evaluate the ProveIT process, so I’m sure the re-evaluation was critical. I’ve heard some of the criticisms and analysis and I think students’ problems with the contest are being heard and addressed.

Thankfully, since the student activity increase of $10/year passed during the elections, SGA will have a lot more money to be able to use on initiatives like this that use centralized money to fund projects that spring out of the student body. I’m excited to see this happen again. I think the contest will continue to be improved and will hopefully become a UMBC tradition.

What a waste, the advertising put into the prove it campaign probably cost more than the actual project.

The original proposal was much bigger than what was accomplished, check the original: http://sga.umbc.edu/proveit/forms/Green_Space_Proposal.pdf . There’s no student art, no ceremony, <30 shrubs, etc. If you look across from the current green space you see a picnic table, that's a bit beat up but has been used a lot that probably only cost $100.

And the worst part is that after the new fine arts building is erected the current one will most likely be taken down. And in the process the Green Space will most likely be destroyed. Hopefully the space will get some good use in the next years because it will be gone soon. It already looks like a truck backed into it- part of the far wall has crumbled.

@Mike

That is an interesting point, about the differences between the original proposal and the final result. I’m sure they did some heavy overbudgeting in their proposal, but still, it seems that many facets of the installation were downgraded or simply omitted. Was this a decision made by SGA?

Has it ever been said definitively what will happen to the current fine arts building when the new one is built?

@Dave

The current Fine Arts building will be renovated, not torn down.

Seriously? SGA makes it sound like 50,000 give or take a little is going towards this project, but then picks a project that is on the much lower end. On top of that, not meeting the project’s simple goals (you have 45,000 left over, so how can you not put more of it towards meeting the remaining goals — i.e. the ones that you tossed out)? … And wasn’t the campaign called IMProve it? Not prove it? Prove what? That we can compete for a reward that won’t be granted?

I think the greenspace is a start, but hopefully not the end to making our campus a little more outside friendly. I saw the original sketches and plans, which sadly looks nothing like what the actual greenspace turned out to be. BUT it’s still nice to see some improvements in the campus.