No question about it — Saugus Planning Board member Joseph Vecchione has established a reputation as a forward-thinking civic-minded town resident who is focused on improving his community.
Vecchione looked around Cliftondale Square two years ago and saw businesses closing and banks shuttering. He swung into action with fellow town officials and took the lead in making the Cliftondale Revitalization Committee an idea generator for bringing new life to one of the town’s commercial hubs.
He is applying the same creative thinking to Route 1 with his support for a May Town Meeting article intended to provide protective status in town ordinances for murals like the one familiar to drivers who speed past Cap World.
The Cap World mural was ordered covered up in February under a town zoning law that says murals and public art are considered signage and are covered by restrictions, including limits on the number of colors used in them.
Vecchione hopes to muster a two-thirds vote in support of an article providing a definition for “vintage art murals” that will allow murals that were previously non-compliant under the law to be compliant under the new definition.
“Cap World would fall under that definition,” Vecchione said. (Item, April 13).
Vecchione isn’t simply interested in preserving a familiar Route 1 sight. He views the vintage art murals article as a springboard to bring public art to Saugus.
If the article wins Town Meeting support, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Saugus Cultural Council can provide grants for local public-art projects.
Vecchione has applied the same forward thinking he demonstrated in helping to spur Cliftondale Square’s revitalization to reaching out to the councils about potential opportunities down the road for telling the town’s stories through murals and other forms of public art.
“All I’m trying to do is permit public art, which I don’t think is a bad thing,” Vecchione said.
We agree, and we like the energy and open-minded thinking he brings to bear on the ever-evolving task of making Saugus a better place to live and work.
