Viral Video of Phoenix’s New Street Art Trees Prompts X Users to Question How Taxpayer Money Gets Spent on Public Art

A video shared by @WallStreetApes, a politically oriented X account, shows a woman criticizing the new decorative orange tree installations in Phoenix, Arizona. In the comment section, several commenters questioned how public art is sponsored by taxpayer money and who gets to have a say in it. 

The video opens with a woman filming out of her car window, where she films the orange tree installations along the roadside. She then asks why the city would spend money on such a project and says, “Come on, City of Phoenix, you guys can spend your money on better stuff than that. Like, what the hell does that mean? Really?”

The video then moves to a man who narrates his issue with the trees. At first, he started off sarcastically praising the trees and saying “detailing is just so great“ but soon he turned to saying that they definitely should not be paid for by taxpayers. “How much do you think a city would pay for amazing art pieces like this?” he asked.

The man said he searched for cost information using ChatGPT, though the AI tool could not identify the exact cost of these specific installations. But he did say that similar public art pieces cost “between $50,000 and $300,000 plus” per piece/tree. Additionally, The Daily Dot has not been able to independently verify the exact cost of these trees either. 

In the comments section, many people were confused and furious. One such user wrote, “How does that even get funded by the city council? That's atrocious.” Another wanted to know more about the payment process that goes behind such projects and said, “Find out who got paid to make and install these. Let's see if they have any ties at all to the people who approved the funding for them.” 

One commenter made an unsubstantiated allegation of financial impropriety, writing, “Here’s what looks like another ‘art’ money laundering scheme in Phoenix…” A separate commenter wrote, “They charging for air yet?” while another called the projects “a waste of taxpayer money.” 

So, while public art can definitely contribute to a city's cultural identity, many critics also point out, just like several ones in the comment section, that these projects can be just as extravagant and unnecessary when the community living in this area are facing other more important issues that could have been helped with some taxpayer money.

The Daily Dot could not independently verify the cost of the installations, the source of their funding, or the identity of those depicted in the video.