For what it's worth, art does not typically contribute meaningfully to cost. In Boston, a budgeted $2 billion dollar expansion of the Green Line is now projected to cost nearly $3 billion, and the response from the MBTA has been to cut $2 million worth of art installations.[0]

There are plenty of issues, but calling out public art as an example of waste is shortsighted given its minuscule costs.

[0]https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/19/mbta-suddenly-c...