Chautauqua County legislators will have a resolution before them Wednesday to spend $100,000 to create murals and place giant chairs throughout the county.

County economic development officials want to place five or six giant chairs similar to one on Third Street in Jamestown that will reflect the communities where they are located and create Instagram-able moments. The second part of the program is a Paint CHQ mural program where five or six murals will be created throughout the county. The county would then create a mapping program for new and existing murals in the county.

As an economic development project, both strike us as incredible wastes of money. We tend to agree with legislator David Wilfong, R-Jamestown, who said during a committee meeting last week that $100,000 is a lot of money on an art program in areas with growing homelessness problems and issues with drug use.

“I think the government money could be spent somewhere else. You could give that $100,000 to the 4-H. That would make a real difference,” he said before saying he is still willing to support the resolution.

Money from the 3% occupancy tax reserve can’t go to 4-H, but we can think of a multitude of projects that would benefit tourism by boosting the biggest tourism drivers in Chautauqua County – it’s lakes and waterways. Remember, County Executive PJ Wendel said last year there are millions of dollars in funding requests for Chautauqua Lake that can’t be fulfilled because there isn’t enough money. We’re sure Cassadaga Lake, Findley Lake and communities along the Lake Erie shoreline could benefit from a share of $100,000 for a program to draw tourists to their area. For all the agriculture in our area, an agritourism program makes a lot of sense.

Mark Geise, deputy county executive of economic development, used the example of Shark Girl in the city of Buffalo as an example of public art that draws people to Canalside. But there is a difference between Shark Girl at Canalside and giant chairs or murals – and that is the attraction that is Canalside. Let’s not forget Canalside is itself an attraction with regular programmed events that draw people to the area. Shark Girl is ancillary to the visit, not the main attraction.

There is a place for public art and we can’t disagree that art does improve communities, but we shouldn’t act as if it is a major economic development initiative in and of itself.