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At 11th and Pine, Capitol Hill’s Black Lives Matter mural is here to stay

(Image: CHS)

A spontaneous expression of art in the middle of Capitol Hill’s center of Black Lives Matter protest in the summer of 2020 has become a Pike/Pine landmark even as the city is still trying to live up to the movement’s demands.

Over the weekend, artists finished their work recreating their massive Black Lives Matter mural in the middle of E Pine with new longer-lasting coats of paint designed to withstand the weather and rigors of a busy city street. The traffic post island and mural are hoped to become a permanent part of the pavement just south of Cal Anderson.

(Image: CHS)

The team of artists and SDOT workers putting down the first layers of paint last week

The Seattle Department of Transportation expects the mural will require periodic refreshes over the years. The street’s flow is also changed for good with slower, shared lanes of traffic replacing curb parking along with new stop signs to keep speeds down even further in the busy pedestrian area.

CHS reported here on Takiyah Ward, Kimisha Turner, and the other artists brought together to recreate the mural after a botched preservation effort caused concerns earlier this summer.

In nearby Cal Anderson, still officially closed by the city amid ongoing protests, the city is collecting feedback on plans to make other CHOP elements like the community gardens and a “conversation circle” permanent elements of the park.

Meanwhile, many hope the art, the gardens, and any new features in Cal Anderson are prelude to larger changes in Seattle to address racism and inequity in the city. The Seattle City Council is being called on to continue efforts to reduce police spending and increase social spending as it works to reshape Mayor Jenny Durkan’s 2021 budget proposal.

You can learn more about the effort to create a new, longer lasting version mural here.

 

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millie
millie
3 years ago

Yay, a stop sign! Small wins… if we can’t get cars to slow/stop for pedestrians, maybe requiring a stop for the mural will work.