The second reason is that public projects have a real problem trying to control labor costs during projects. The most artistic and aesthetically pleasing works of craftsman ship taking time and money public projects can't support right now.
In NY, every minute you allow an employee near a ladder costs you money due to Workers Compensation costs.
The Power Broker would be my recommended reading.
In any case, a lot of the subway art described here was from before the '30s -- many of the stations described are part of the original IRT line, which opened 1904.
If you think the way that startups market themselves is sometimes questionably ethical, in other industries it's apparently even crazier.
In Docklands, Melbourne, there's a public sculpture that any normal child would think is a fun thing to climb (https://markstoner.com.au/projects/the-river-runs-through-it...). Naturally there are signs instructing parents to prevent their children from climbing the "sculptures"!
All part of the long process of contemporary art becoming increasingly irrelevant to the public: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/how-art-became-i...
There's something mildy shocking about the whole affair, especially the contrast with first adopting the dog, but I suspect that's the "art" bit.
