City decides to allow U-District mural after all

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Wednesday, September 29, 2004

City decides to allow U-District mural after all
'Graffiti rangers' won't be making visit to wall; permit will be issued

By REGINA HACKETT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ART CRITIC

On second thought, city officials said yesterday, the new mural on Northeast Campus Parkway can stay.

PREVIOUSLY

Art or graffiti? City will decide

After initial objections to parts of the University District mural that some thought was too much like graffiti, a meeting set for today between city officials and mural organizer Jill Rothenberger was canceled.

City employees who previously told her to prepare for a visit from the "graffiti rangers," the crews who paint over illegal artwork, won't be joining her.

"We won," a triumphant Rothenberger said. She's working on finishing touches for the mural today and will be happy to talk with anybody who shows up, she said.

Said Liz Rankin, communications manager for the Department of Transportation, "There's no need for our people to come, now that we've reached an agreement."

"Nothing is going to change on either side of the street," she continued. "We are issuing a permit for both sides of the mural. Jill and her volunteers agreed to maintain the murals and consult us on any design changes."


		Mike Urban / P-I
	This section of the mural shows some of the artwork that certain city officials said was just graffiti and ought to be removed.

Yesterday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer quoted Dave Chew, manager of structures, maintenance and operations for the Department of Transportation, saying the mural wouldn't be allowed to remain as is.

"If we allow it, it will encourage graffiti vandals," he said.

Joining him in disapproval was Anthony Matlock from Seattle Public Utilities. Although he refused to speak to the P-I about yesterday's story, Rothenberger said Matlock was more adamant than Chew in his objections to the mural.

Now, both their departments have no objections.

Rothenberger and 40 young artists, designers and middle-schoolers spent the past four months painting the mural. She worked on it for more than a year, talking to the community and getting permission from the city. The Department of Neighborhoods gave her $1,600 for materials, and the Department of Transportation gave $800 for a sealant to protect the mural from vandals.

As the piece neared completion, Chew and Matlock found portions not to their liking. They told Rothenberger they wanted to paint over passages of the north side mural, which looked too much like graffiti to them, and remove the south side mural, for which they'd never issued a permit.

Rothenberger acknowledges that some parts of the mural didn't turn out exactly like the preliminary drawings. "Things change during the painting process, but I don't think any of the people working on the mural thought they were doing anything wrong. We were all happy to be working on a legal wall."

She said she wished that she had applied for a permit to paint the south side of the underpass but didn't because she didn't expect to have enough people to cover it. But after she distributed fliers asking for volunteers, she got more than she needed. To make room for them, she agreed to let them paint the south side underpass.

The theme of the mural is bridges, or connections between communities. Certain elements of hip-hop or graffiti style turned up in the final product. Rothenberger argued graffiti style is not a crime in itself, but Chew said he had no flexibility when it comes to graffiti.

After yesterday's story, Rankin acknowledged she heard from plenty of people who wanted the mural to survive. City Councilman Nick Licata sent the director of Seattle Public Utilities a letter that offered a history lesson on the place of graffiti in art and ended with a plea.

"It is unfortunate and even ironic that city officials would invite the creation of a mural by youth, then condemn what they choose to create," Licata wrote. "After all, for years your department funded the non-profit organization Artworks to employ kids to paint murals, many of which were done in the style of graffiti, all of which were welcomed by the communities in which they were installed."

Licata urged the relevant city departments to reconsider. They did.

The 7,000-square-foot expanse of formerly drab concrete is now a bright and buoyant expression of youth culture with dramatically beautiful portions, especially on the south side underpass.

More headlines and info from University District.