LYNN — It took a community effort Friday afternoon to clean up Clark Park after its East Lynn Little League mural was vandalized in February.
Friday’s effort, which involved repainting the graffiti-covered mural and cleaning up the area, was made possible after a fundraising effort spearheaded by Ward 3 Councilor Coco Alinsug.
Community members raised $800 to restore the mural, which was repainted by three Raw Art Works (RAW) members, the organization’s art therapist, Bruce Orr, and two program alumni, Elijah Fernandes and John Plinkett. RAW is a youth-arts organization based in Lynn.
The restoration took two hours to complete.
Alinsug said the painters only needed $400 to complete the project, but after he posted about the vandalism online, several Ward 3 residents immediately donated for the mural’s refurbishment.
“There were 26 contributions ranging from $10 to $100,” Alinsug said. “We had to pause donations because there were so many coming in at a fast rate.”
Alinsug said he doesn’t know exactly when the vandalism took place. Police are investigating the incident, he said.
However, he said it’s been discovered that the vandalism took place at night. Because of this, Alinsug said he wants to install lights to ensure these types of crimes aren’t able to go unnoticed in the dark.
Alinsug said his request for funding directed towards lights and park security on Clark Street is part of an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) wishlist that he drafted in January.
“These are the things I think need funding,” Alinsug said. “We want to make sure that our parks are safe. If we love our parks, then we need to take care of them.”
Alinsug is also seeking funding for park staffing and clean-up initiatives.
“Once we put in the lights, then we will look for ways to prevent the trash from being scattered at the park,” he said.
Alinsug said he and Ward 3 Citizens Advisory Board representative Sandy Anshewitz found the mural and park signs covered in graffiti during an outdoor meeting last month.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) covered up the graffiti this week and Anshewitz contacted Orr at RAW to help restore the mural.
Orr, 50, said he was the lead director during the mural’s creation in 2016. Orr and eight then-teenagers who participated in the Good2Go public art program, were able to turn a piece of architecture that was consistently covered by graffiti into a piece of art that highlighted the baseball field and the people who use the park.
“All of the teens have grown older and have moved on to college, but their names are still on the mural,” Orr said. “This was part of their high-school experience, not just to get paid to make art, but participate in something bigger than them.”
Fernandes, 21, said the Good2Go program helped him find his passion for art in high school. As part of the program, he and his peers helped to create pieces of art and murals across the city as acts of civic engagement.
“I started the program when I was 14,” he said. “I was very arts-oriented when I was younger, and my mom thought it would be a good idea to sign me up for Good2Go and it’s been my passion ever since.”
