It's good to have a cultural plan — its genesis has been admirably open and we're all talking about it. And it's not hard to make a case for culture in this pluralistic, liberal, arts-loving city. The arts have a diverse array of stakeholders all anxious for their fair shake, so a reasonable person surely can sympathize with what feels like a philosophy of "if somebody brought it up and it sounded good, stick it in the plan." It's the equivalent of creating a long list of wishes for Santa Claus; the smart kid hopes that at least a few of the requests will stick. But there are so many new grants, initiatives, matching funds, incentives and staff positions in the Cultural Plan they all start to blur. Yet there's little money around and the local appetite for more new taxes — even if the Canadians give it up happily for the arts every time they have a beer — is not exactly ravenous.