Denver wants pro-Obama mural removed

[JonLP24]

Source: LA Times



The political art was spray painted on a house fence by three teens.
By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 8, 2008
DENVER -- Paul Trujillo decided it was time to do something positive and inspiring.

The 16-year-old graffiti artist's moniker, ERA, was scrawled on retaining walls and in alleyways throughout Denver. But after the Democratic National Convention came here in late August, Paul decided to try something new: He and two friends spray-painted a 26-foot-long mural of Barack Obama along the rear fence of his grandparents' house.

Now the city is ordering him to get rid of it.

Paul's artwork includes the word "Vote," which Denver officials ruled makes it an illegal election sign. The city gave him until Friday to come up with a new design.

"We took our time to do that," Paul said this week as he stood in his grandparents' kitchen, "and for someone to just come by and say you can't have that . . . " He trailed off dejectedly.


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-mural8-2008oct08,0,1590317.story

[BlooInBloo]

1. Fucking idiots. Everybody knows what happens when you take down a mural they care about.

[ret5hd]

2. ACLU would probably go for this as political free speech.

[codjh9]

19. I wish they would!

[tridim]

3. "Vote" is illegal speech on a sign. WTF?

That's pure bullshit.

[Union Thug]

4. Geez, I wish these guys lived near me. You should see the crap that get's painted on our fences!

Seriously, it's great to see teens expressing themselves in a positive and creative way. Bravo, guys!

[JonLP24]

11. I clicked on your profile I see it says Seattle

Just to see if I relate. I've been to Seattle a few times, lived in Tacoma for 2 years and there is pretty bad graffiti but it amazes me how they can reach the sides of a bridge with spray paint with I-5 underneath.

However in LA they don't miss, seriously. Everywhere, street signs, generic white graffiti trucks, everywhere. When I seen graffiti regularly on those boxed white trucks I was shaking my head.

[norepubsin08]

17. Hey I live in Tacoma

what part did you live in ...I live in the Historic North Slope!

[JonLP24]

26. 44th and Sheridan

Right by Safeway on 38th Street.

I was stationed at N Ft Lewis from '06-08

[pinto]

5. 2 thumbsup on the mural. And a city attorney made an interesting comment :

He noted that the family could appeal the citation to the city's zoning department. The board responsible, Buckey said, has so many cases in front of it already that any hearing on the mural likely would be delayed until after the election.

:kick:

[LiberalFighter]

21. Hmm I wonder why the city attorney suggested it? I wonder!! LMAO

[rateyes]

6. Is it fascism yet?

:banghead:

[blackbart99]

15. you betcha it is

can you say Heil Bush? see you in the detension camp.
:hide:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. That Statement Is BEYOND Absurd.

Fascism? Are you serious? This?

That's one of the funniest melodramatic uses of fascism I've seen on this board yet.

[Truth2Tell]

23. Good to see the "It's not fascism" police

workin' hard today.

Nice job patriot. We don't need these kooky libruls dissin' Amurka now do we!

:patriot:

[NeedleCast]

25. For those that use the word fascism

like some skipping-CD, it's no surprise that there's a backlash.

Using the word fascism to describe anything you don't like takes the power away from the word.

[NeedleCast]

24. Why is this fascism?

Stupid to make them take it down...yes.

What does fascism have to do with it?

[Truth2Tell]

28. Maybe totalitarianism, or authoritarianism

would be more precise. However, American authoritarianism is an outgrowth of American fascism, so as a shorthand "fascism" works just fine. Most of us understand exactly what the poster meant. Sorry you don't get it.

[NeedleCast]

30. Oh, I get it

It was just a misuse of the term. I'll admit I'm not up to speed on Denver zoning and politcal campaign laws. I have no idea if this mural is in violation of the law or not. I think it sucks they have to take it down.

[Truth2Tell]

31. Good. So you get

that knee-jerk authoritarianism is one of the classic characteristics of fascism. And you also get that America presently exhibits all of the other classic symptoms as well? If yes, then surely you can see there was no misuse of the word in this case.

[TlalocW]

7. Put an Umlaut above the o

Claim it's the name of your garage band - Vote Obama (with umlaut).

TlalocW

[glinda]

8. They could replace VOTE with HOPE.

[jobycom]

13. Nice idea. nt

[Blue_Tires]

9. damn....that is some really good work

[zbdent]

10. wait ... this is on his grandparents' house, and not on public property?

Yep ... fascism, all right ...

I wonder how many private homes have "artwork" displayed which could be called "graffiti" ...

I also wonder if the city charges them for repairs on the sidewalk, or if they have to repair the sidewalk themselves ...

[lukasahero]

16. That's what I'm wondering

Is it even legal for the city to interfer?

[jobycom]

12. I think they'd have a good argument if they fought it.

Here in Texas a lot of homeowners sued HOAs for forbidding political signs. Eventually the state Supreme Court ruled that political signs were free speech and could not be forbidden, even if HOAs had covenants against them, and even if homeowners had signed the covenants. "Freedom of expression is a right, and you can't sign away a right," was their ruling (that's a paraphrase). Finally, the Texas lege passed a law making it official--no one could forbid political expression by forbidding yard signs.

Seems to me an attorney could work with something like that. It's their property, it's an expression of their political beliefs, and no one can infringe on that right. Forbidding signs over a certain size may make sense for safety reasons or whatever, but this doesn't fit that definition of a sign, since it is on an existing structure which itself is already legal. Thus, the size of the "sign" isn't what's at issue, it's the size of the expression. Plus, I can see limiting the size of signs the campaign is allowed to put up or offer to people, but this is not generated by the campaign, so it shouldn't violate any campaign restrictions. This is an expression of First Amendment rights created by a private individual. Seems like a case they could win. Of course, it also seems too expensive for one family to fight. I hope the ACLU has heard about this.

[Tempest]

14. Follow up to original story - the mural stays

Chris Beall, a volunteer attorney with Colorado Lawyers for the Arts, took a look at the mural, then a more expansive look at the city's municipal code. "The answer to this issue," he says, "is in the definitions for a 'sign.' Under Section 59-2(265), a 'sign' is explicitly defined as NOT including 'works of art which in no way identify a product.' Because the mural is most definitely a work of art — see the federal Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which defines murals as among the kinds of 'fine art' within its protection — the mural here cannot be classified as a 'sign.' Moreover, it would be a violation of VARA for the City to remove or deface the mural without the artist's permission."

The writing's on the wall: Denver can't afford to erase another piece of art.

http://www.westword.com/2008-10-02/news/why-the-city-wants-to-wipe-out-barack-obama/


The story goes on to tell how the city has forked out thousands of dollars to artists for covering up their work.

[EFerrari]

27. Ha! Thanks for the follow up.

[Fovea]

20. Easy Fix

Change Vote to Hope.

[Xenotime]

22. They should sue the city for racism

[bobbolink]

29. Three local teens learn about "democracy".

I'm glad to see they fought it, and I'm glad to see they won.

When teens replace destruction with art, its praise-worthy!

:applause: for Paul Trujillo!!!