LYNN — A youth-led push for a painted Black Lives Matter street mural could meet some resistance from City Hall.
Two Lynn English High School students have mobilized an array of youth and community groups around an effort aimed at getting a “Black Lives Matter” mural painted on the street between Lynn District Court and City Hall.
Much of the public push has come from a petition started by the two teenagers, Carlos Prudencio and Damianny Garrido, who are both involved with Beyond Walls and Youth Without Borders.
According to the petition, the mural would span from Essex Street, starting in front of the courthouse, and would run past Johnson Street to end outside the steps of City Hall.
Prudencio, 17, said the mural would read “Black Lives Matter” on either side of the street, which would result in a mirror image effect that would allow people to read the message from either direction.
“We saw these incredible, beautiful murals all over the country and we thought: why can’t we have one of those in Lynn?” said Prudencio, citing the city’s diversity.
“We want everybody in our community to understand it is a tough time for the Black community and we stand together to fight this racism that literally plagues our country and our community.”
However, the political undertones of the message could be what ultimately defeats the proposal, which has to be approved by the City Council’s Public Property and Parks Committee.
“It’s setting a bad precedent if we start to allow anyone to paint the streets,” said Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, who serves as chairman of the Public Property and Parks Committee. “I think if we did it, we’d probably be opening the door to make our streets billboards for any message anyone wanted to send.”
As chairman of the committee, Starbard said he would question who would be responsible for the financial upkeep of the mural, which would include repairing any damage done to it, and for removing the painting and restoring the street back to its previous condition.
He referenced a legal opinion rendered by the city’s law department last month for a similar proposal, which would also fall under the jurisdiction of the committee. That request was for permission to paint the message, “We are Better Together,” on three crosswalks in the city.
In that instance, City Solicitor George Markopoulos opined that “while the phrase ‘We are Better Together’ can be considered inspirational and non-offensive, the phrase also simultaneously carries with it a political undertone.
“If the city were to allow private groups to display messages on crosswalks, it would be required to allow any group to display any subject to very limited time, place, and manner restrictions,” said Markopoulos.
“Consistent with prior opinions regarding the use of municipal buildings for any event that could be deemed political in nature, it is the opinion of this office that the Lynn City Council should not approve any request to paint verbiage on public ways that are unrelated to public safety traffic messaging.”
Markopoulos said his office has yet to receive a request for a legal opinion regarding a Black Lives Matter mural, but Starbard said he planned to request one before the proposal comes before the public property committee.
Although the mural is meeting some early resistance, the youth groups have gained the support of at least one city councilor, Fred Hogan, who is working to set up a meeting among Prudencio, City Council President Darren Cyr and the law department, to discuss ways the project could move forward.
“I stand with the youth of Lynn 100 percent on their Black Lives Matter mural,” said Hogan. “I got an opportunity to work with some of the kids who started the petition. They’re amazing kids. I’ve been to many of the protests in Lynn. There’s definitely problems we have to address.”
Garrido, 18, said the group is trying to remain optimistic, but the process is taking longer than it should. Both Garrido and Prudencio said they have not yet heard back from City Hall about when their proposal would come before the City Council subcommittee.
“Hopefully we get all of his negativity over with and get to do this wonderful artwork,” said Garrido. “It’s a shame it took this long to do this street mural. There’s other cities that did this in a week. Here we are three weeks later and (we) still haven’t gotten it.”
Still, if the proposal does come before the five-member committee, it will likely not have the support of the panel’s chairman.
“I don’t think the street is a place to be painting messages,” said Starbard.
Mayor Thomas M. McGee did not respond to a request for comment, but his spokeswoman, Elizabeth Rosario, said the possible installation of the mural was not McGee’s decision.
