News of the budget set aside for the Crown St Mall art brought out a league of objectors online, many with suggestions for how to better use the money.

There were the poverty-stricken to consider, they suggested. Otherwise, the money could go towards a community amphitheatre in Corrimal, or into building a Men's Shed at Coniston - a "two birds, one stone" kind of solution dreamed up by Mercury reader ''otfordeco''.

"Use the $500K to buy a place for [the men] and they in turn could probably create some beaut new art piece," otfordeco wrote.

The artwork is intended to have a focus on colour, light and local relevance and would be built into the $15 million redesign of Crown St Mall, perhaps with elements running the length of the mall.

Council announced tenders open for the work on Friday.

Acting Lord Mayor David Brown said the city's lack of spending on public art helped make the case for a sizeable piece now.

"We haven't done a lot of these quite large projects in the past so it's not like we're overspending on it," he said.

"The demands on public sector purses are effectively infinite. It's about getting the balance right.

"In a budget pushing $250 million, a one-off spend of this much I don't think is unreasonable. I think people will be happy with the final result."

A smattering of supporters for council's plans also made their presence felt online.

"Ahhh, the usual short-sighted naysayers are out in force," one said. "There is definitely a place for public art in Wollongong. I applaud the commitment by council, but please... choose something good!"

The tender process will be somewhat weighted towards an area artist, but the council has advertised further afield.

Artists have until July 10 to submit an expression of interest via tenderlink.com/wollongong.