Chicago Alderman, Artists and Businesses Launch Campaign to Protect Street Art

CHICAGO - Sept. 11, 2018 - PRLog -- Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd); Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly; Cards Against Humanity cofounder Max Temkin; Tanner Woodford of the Design Museum of Chicago; Lance Curran, director of artist shops at Threadless; and prominent artists will gather Wednesday, September 12 at 9:45 a.m. to support a proposed ordinance designed to protect street art and murals while still eradicating graffiti.

The group will gather at Cards Against Humanity for a press conference, tour of several new murals and the painting of some new murals.

The press conference will be held Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 9:45 a.m. at Cards Against Humanity headquarters at North Elston Avenue and West Homer Street in Chicago. (1917 N. Elston Ave. for the GPS.)

Background

The ordinance, which will be taken up by the City Council's Zoning Committee for the second time Sept. 19, calls for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to maintain a mural registry to help eliminate confusion among streets and sanitation crews.

Building owners would be allowed to register the murals they want protected with the city. It would also create a placard for property owners to affix to the outside of their building to warn Streets and Sanitation crews that the artwork should be protected.

The proposed legislation comes after city-employed 'graffiti blasters' destroyed two valuable pieces of public artwork in the span of a few months. In August, a JC Rivera mural paid for by taxpayers at the Paulina Brown Line CTA station was blasted away after a 311 caller reported it as graffiti. And in March, ahead of a visit from Amazon officials in town to evaluate proposed locations for the company's second headquarters, blasters removed a piece by French street artist Blek le Rat on the Cards Against Humanity headquarters building. The building is located near Lincoln Yards and the sprawling former North Side home of Finkl Steel, which was being shown to Amazon.