A new report alleges that the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $20 million between 2004 and 2014 on costly artwork, according to an article on the ABC News website.
That total included more than $1 million for a courtyard with a large sculpture at a Palo Alto veterans facility; $330,000 for a glass-art installation; and $21,000 for an artificial Christmas tree, according to the report.
Open The Books, a nonprofit that claims to be the world’s largest private database of government spending, in conjunction with Cox Media used government data to examine the Veterans Affairs Department's (VA) spending on art for their facilities in the decade ending in 2014.
Much of the spending occurred at a time when veterans were experiencing lengthy waits for treatment at VA facilities. A spokesperson for the Palo Alto facility told ABC News that it had more than $4 million in art contracts in 2013 and 2014, including for an installation on the side of a parking garage.
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