VENTURA : Neighborhood, Businesses Debate Mural

Just looking at the new mural splayed across the south wall of Avenue Liquor Store in Ventura makes Wilma Kenyon miffed.

“I have a friend who wanted to change the color on (his business’) sign from white to black, and they wouldn’t even let him do that, but then they let them put up that mural,” said Kenyon, owner of Kenyon Auto Shop on Ventura Avenue. “Well, it doesn’t seem quite fair. And anyway, it’s not stopping anything. It just looks cluttered and ugly.”

A raucous palette of color, the 70-foot-wide by 12-foot-high painting, on Ventura Avenue near Simpson, depicts the struggles of homeless people and the aging neighborhood’s fights against drugs, alcohol and violence.

It is splattered with exhortations such as “Stop the violence” and “It’s not cool to target kids.”

The children who live on and around Ventura Avenue created the mural with a grant from the Ventura County Alcohol and Drug Program and the help of local artist M.B. Hanrahan.

But about 20 residents and business owners, including Kenyon, signed a petition last week that they recently turned in to City Hall, protesting the painting of the mural when city code enforcers are so strict on approving individual businesses’ signs.

“If you are going to be fair to one, be fair to all,” said Ginger Thompson, who crafted and circulated the petition among her friends and neighbors.

City staff say a mural and a business sign are two totally different issues.

“I know (some residents) don’t like it, but I don’t know what to do about it,” said Laurie James, a code enforcement officer for Ventura. “We look at it as a freedom-of-speech issue.”

In other words, James said, a sign is advertising and a mural is art.

Rigo Aguirre, 16, who lives on Prospect Street, labored more than a dozen hours on it during the last two weeks in May, helping to paint the mural after school let out for the day.

He says he puffs up with pride now every time he walks by.

“It’s something you’ll look back on later,” Rigo said with a broad smile. “Hopefully, it will still be there 10 years from now and still giving out the same message.”

Eddie Padilla, who owns a cellular phone store down the street from Avenue Liquor, agreed that there is no comparison between art and advertising.

“The mural is for the community,” he said. “It doesn’t bring in business to the liquor store.”

As for the employees of the store itself, they have started their own petition in support of the mural.

They have gathered 90 signatures since June 1, just from leaving the petition out on the store’s counter.

“Some people don’t like it, they say it’s graffiti,” said Richard Hernandez, the store’s manager. “I told them, hey, it’s from the kids’ hearts.”