the great art gestapo

Recently, the local historic district commission has started to place feelers in the community to see how the public would feel if they were to expand their reach to cover art in the community. Predictably, the art community is up-in-arms at the idea of having to channel public art through a governmental commission before it can be displayed. And rightfully so. Doesn't art fall under the realm of "freedom of speech" (which some might argue we have already lost so much of, anyways)?

While I doubt that this little idea will go anywhere, there's always the possibility that they are grooming the community to eventually accept the idea. After all, isn't a historic district doing virtually the same thing? Sure, they protect property values by enforcing a grand scheme across an entire neighborhood, but aren't they essentially stifling the creativity of architecture? It's definitely one of those "slippery slope" arguments, but one that needs to be addressed wherever it rears its ugly head, regardless of the possibility of it being passed into ordinance.