"unbelievably tacky. A waste of taxpayer money, even but ugly. These are some of the things people are saying online about these two orange tree sculptures in South Phoenix after a viral social media post claimed they cost taxpayers $300,000. I went to fact check that claim and discovered that the answer is even more expensive, but also a little more complicated. The tree sculptures were actually commissioned by Valley Metro for its public art program along the South Phoenix light rail extension. The trees are just one part of a three-part piece called Rio, placed around the central and baseline stop. Valley Metro says Rio's total cost is $350,000. But reading the comments, they were pretty typical for backlash against public art. I talked with Rio's artist, George Bates, who says there's more to Rio than meets the eye. The piece was community inspired telling the history of South Phoenix. The trees themselves are essentially an homage to the to the citrus groves and also just like the history of local workers, agriculture workers, migrant workers, and how important that was. As for the cost, he says his artist fee was just a fraction of the $350,000. Most of the money went to local fabricator American Fiberglass to create Rio. So was that like $295,000 went to the fabricator? If I can put that budget back into the local community, I'm always looking to do that. Generally, up to 1% of major infrastructure project budgets go toward public art. In total, Valley Metro says it spent $3.6 million on 19 different art projects along the South extension."