Update 10/26/09
In a dramatic turn of events, the mural on the East wall of Neighborhood Thrift got spared from being painted over. In an outpouring of community support that involved emails, phone calls and a human wall in front of the mural the Neighborhood Thrift Board reconsidered it’s course of action. See The Fresno Beehive for Pastor Tim Goetz’s letter announcing the change of course.
photo by: Joe Osejo
The effort to reconcile the differences the murals immediate neighbors and the vision of the Tower District as a whole was spearheaded by graphic designer, tower resident, and longtime Creative Fresno board member, Suzzane Bertz-Rosa. Moving forward, Neighborhood Thrift manager, AP, and I will discuss any outstanding concerns that the neighbors have with the mural. These concerns will then be brought to the artists and Neighborhood Thrift Board to determine how to address the concerns and move forward as one neighborhood, all the more strong.
Original Post 10/24/09
-
- photo by: Joe Osejo
A controversy brewed this week over the newest and largest mural in the Tower District. While the majority of the neighborhood and Tower District Community supported the mural be prominent local artist. Several neighboring homeowners strongly opposed it.
This story had been covered by Mike Oz for the Fresno Bee and Beehive
The final decision was made by the Neighborhood Thrift board of directors to paint over the mural or “buff” as the artist say. Neighborhood Thrift was setup as a independent 501c3 organization but began as a youth project of the Well Community Church.
Below is a response to a plea to keep the mural that I sent executive pastor of Well Community Church, Tim Goetz.
Kiel,
I appreciate your concern, however, you must first understand why we are in that location before you can understand our position. Also, when I say ‘our’ position, I mean Neighborhood Thrifts position. Neighborhood Thrift is its own 501c3, and is independent from The Well.
We have a simple business and a simple mission. We want to grow a successful business by selling mostly used goods at an affordable price so we can 1) promote an atmosphere of community and 2) help the community succeed economically.
We started Neighborhood Thrift just last year, and as of today, we employ 20 people from the community. We care about people, we care about the community, and we care about our neighbors. We hoped the mural would tie us into the Tower District and help promote the store, which would mean we could hire more people. We want to be tied in to the Tower District, but not bad enough to jeopardize relationship with our neighbors. We hope that people will understand why we need to paint over the mural, and we hope that we haven’t ruined potential relationships with our neighbors.
Ultimately, we just already have enough on our plate pursuing this thing they call economic development, the last thing we need is controversy, distraction, or another mission. We want everyone to know of Neighborhood Thrift as the store in the community for the community, not the place where the controversial mural is located. We need to be spending our time on growing the business to hire more people, or finishing our cafe so the community has another place to hang out this winter.
I know you may not agree with this, but the more this develops into 2 sides (Tower vs. Some neighbors), the more I am certain of what we need to do. I can respect the quote from the Tower District, but you need to understand that is your mission. We have our own mission. I think we can probably both be satisfied, but the current mural is jeopardizing our mission.
Hope this helps clarify things.
Tim Goetz
The muralist including Ramiro Martinez, Dominique Ovalle, Mike Howe & Josh Wigger worked into the night and today to finish the mural before it was buffed.
