Owner of Store Ordered to Paint Over Flag Sign

After a spirited 45-minute discussion, the city’s Design Review Committee has decided that the owner of Avenue Liquor must white out a sign he painted on a wall of his store without city approval.

The sign, which shows a big American flag on a beige background, obliterated half of a nationally recognized public art mural and unleashed a firestorm of protest in the west-side community.

Store owner Yousef Kamil did not attend the committee’s Monday night meeting.

The unanimous decision does nothing to guarantee that the mural will be replaced, said Ted Temple, committee chairman.

“We looked at it from the point of view of if the request came through the normal process, would we approve it?” Temple said. “And the answer was obvious: ‘No.’ ”

But Temple said the decision opens up the door to the possibility that the mural could be replaced.

“If we had not taken that action, we would have been giving the owner the benefit of keeping up an illegal sign for an indefinite period of time, and there would have been no motivation for him to negotiate with his neighbors,” Temple said.

Len Evans, a member of the Westside Community Council, who planted flowers and built tiny Plaza Park in front of the now half-obliterated mural, said he hoped that the decision would encourage negotiations.

“We are keeping the door open for the liquor store owner to talk about how we can put this back up in a way so that everyone is happy,” Evans said.

The artwork, which was funded by the Ventura County Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, features anti-gang and anti-drug messages aimed at discouraging criminals from frequenting the area.

The 12-by-72-foot mural gained national acclaim last year when it became one of 50 pieces of community art selected for depiction in an exhibit in Washington, D.C.

Yousef said previously that he painted over the mural because customers did not like it.

At Monday’s meeting, the mural continued to generate debate among nearby residents. Some have long complained that it was too hard-edged for The Avenue.

But Temple said the constant controversy is what gave the mural its value.

“I did not like that mural,” he said. “But it creates such controversy and causes people to think. That’s what public art is all about.”