The City vs. muralists - again

A proposed ordinance follows up on anti-street art legislation that was unsuccessfully pitched earlier this summer

Earlier this summer, a group of artists, including Fabian “Occasional Superstar” Williams and Peter “PLF” Ferrari, sued the City of Atlanta for threatening to enforce a public art ordinance that Williams and Ferrari say is unconstitutional. Not only did it require going through five separate city offices, but there was no time limit for the approval processes. At that time, artists received notice that if existing works were not approved by the City, they would be demolished. Did we mention that these works are on private property?

That lawsuit was eventually settled after the City agreed not to enforce the ordinance. But City Council member Joyce Sheperd isn’t ready to wash her hands of this just yet. Late last month, during a committee meeting, she proposed a substitute to the mural art legislation first introduced in 2014.

The good news is that the checklist for pre-approval no longer includes the mayor’s office or City Council. But applications must still traverse the Office of Cultural Affairs, the Urban Design Commission and the Office of Traffic and Transportation. Then it must be presented at a meeting of the Neighborhood Planning Unit in the community where the mural is proposed. Sheperd’s substitute also implements a time frame of 10 days for applications to be approved or denied.

Considering how unpopular it is to make artists jump through several bureaucratic hoops to get permission to display their work on private property, we reached out to Councilwoman Sheperd to find out why she’s pushing forward with a permitting process. Through a spokesperson, Sheperd said that the legislation has been misinterpreted, and that their legal department is currently vetting the new language. “I’m confident these changes will resolve the issue of constitutionality,” she said. “It will help, not hurt. We will be streamlining the process.”

The question is: Should government officials no matter how “streamlined” the process is have a say in what kind of art dons private property? Gerry Weber, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit earlier this summer, told us recently: “You’re picking and choosing what kinds of topics can occur in the public sphere and public debate, and governments aren’t supposed to do that.”

He added: “These murals throughout the city brighten the buildings, and in a lot of ways make us think and contemplate history and politics and society. They are really part of the cultural fabric of the city, and one of the things I’m most proud of about this city.”

According to Sheperd, the ordinance is set to be discussed when the City Council meets Aug. 29.






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