Program to Protect Murals Approved

The Cultural Affairs Commission on Friday approved the first five murals to come under the Boyle Heights Mural Pilot Program, which officials have described as an experiment in legalizing public art created without permits on private walls.

Artists, city employees and community members applauded the commission’s vote on the murals, several of which had come under fire from some Boyle Heights residents for resembling graffiti tagging.

The program, formed by the 14th Council District and administered by the Eagle Rock-based Center for the Arts, seeks to protect public murals that were never officially sanctioned by bringing them into compliance with city codes. According to city rules, any mural that abuts city property, including sidewalks, must have a permit.

“This is the history of art in Los Angeles,” said Commissioner Gayle Garner Roski. “All of these [murals] are fabulous and we should preserve them, under the auspices of making these legal.”

For some veteran graffiti writers, the idea of giving official sanction to murals on privately owned walls runs counter to tradition, in which muralists offer their creations to business owners on their own terms.

“Why should [a shop owner] have to go through a long process to allow someone to paint fishes on his wall? That part, the relationship between the artists and the business owner, should only be between those two,” said Frame-One, a graffiti writer who spoke in favor of protecting the murals at the meeting Friday.

But for Boyle Heights resident Juaquin Castellanos, who was unable to attend the meeting but sent a letter to the Cultural Affairs Department, the presence of graffiti-style murals is not welcome.

“I don’t think those murals go with the morals of the city,” Castellanos, an engineer, said in an interview Friday. “I don’t want to see graffiti near my property, even if others appreciate it.”

The program’s backers said it would ensure that murals were maintained and protected from unwanted gang tagging. Artists would be paid for participating, and neighborhood youth would be involved in the work.

Asked about the issue at a news conference last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the program was created by his office while he was a city councilman representing Boyle Heights after some residents complained about the murals.

“There’s no question there are complexities,” Villaraigosa said. “What we’re trying to do there is to mediate all the people that are involved on this issue.”