ACLU Joins Fray Over Huge Murals

Some big guns joined Westwood’s mural war Tuesday--and we’re not just talking about the 60-foot-high, rifle-toting female Marine who materialized above Wilshire Boulevard.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop Los Angeles from removing artist Mike McNeilly’s Statue of Liberty-themed murals from the side of a 12-story medical building.

ACLU lawyers said the city is violating McNeilly’s constitutional right to free speech by banning noncommercial murals such as one he placed on the building last month after hijacked airliners slammed into the World Trade Center, as well as the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

That artwork depicted a New York firefighter against a backdrop of a torn American flag and a tearful Statue of Liberty. It was labeled “God Bless America, 9-11.”

City officials, who have fought with McNeilly for more than 2 1/2 years over other murals at the Westwood high-rise, promptly cited him with 25 violations of city codes for illegally erecting the huge, vinyl-backed painting.

Last weekend, McNeilly replaced the firefighter with a depiction of an M-16-armed female Marine standing against a backdrop of flames and a flying eagle. In the distance are the images of the World Trade Center towers, the Statue of Liberty and a stealth bomber. The mural is labeled “Liberty and Justice, 9-11.”

ACLU attorney Daniel Tokaji said McNeilly is among many Americans who have reached out since Sept. 11 “to display our shared loved for this country.”

Tokaji said city officials have “shown an utter disregard for the most basic freedom of all--the freedom of speech embodied in the 1st Amendment.”

McNeilly, 48, welcomed the ACLU’s support, which he said came out of the blue. He said he was “happy but surprised,” especially since the ACLU this month demanded that a “God Bless America” sign be removed from a Northern California school’s marquee.

Tokaji said McNeilly’s message is different from the one at the school. “There’s a big constitutional difference between government-sponsored speech and private religious speech,” he said.

McNeilly said last month’s firefighter mural has been packed for shipment to New York City. He hopes it will be displayed in Times Square or near ground zero at the World Trade Center site.

Barely visible behind the new mural were the edges of a commercial mural McNeilly had put up to advertise a television show, “Lizzy McGuire.” McNeilly said that it was glued to the side of the building and that he did not have a chance to peel it off before putting up last month’s firefighter art.

McNeilly said he has filled the wall with paid film and television advertising for only 90 days over three years. That, he added, is with the consent of the building’s owner, who shares in the undisclosed revenue. But McNeilly said again Tuesday that the ads are posted only to pay for the patriotic-themed murals that honor veterans buried in the nearby Los Angeles National Cemetery.

But city officials repeated their contention that the Lady Liberty murals are a way for McNeilly to skirt anti-billboard laws. They said he is trying to sneak “supergraphic” ads on the Wilshire Boulevard corridor, where such advertising is prohibited by city law.

It’s “a very cynical and sad attempt by Mr. McNeilly to exploit a national tragedy to further his own financial well-being,” said Ben Austin, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

“This is not a 1st Amendment issue. We are simply enforcing city laws, and city laws say no more billboards there.”