Window Murals To Offer Hope

Thu., Feb. 10, 2000

Carlos Acevedo Staff Writer

In the East Central neighborhood, dozens of houses are boarded up.

Windows covered with wood keep out transients and drug dealers. And while the plywood is an investment in safety - less crime, less mess inside, less chance for fire - it also is a dreary reminder of the neighborhood’s troubles.

Soon, however, cats and dogs might peer out those windows. Kids, too, and even whole families.

The East Central COPS Substation, 3001 E. Fifth, is trying to put a good face on those windows with murals of what someday could be inside.

“I envision pictures of cheerful things which give hope that there will be life in those houses again,” said substation President Marian Zoesch.

The art project, called “Here’s Looking at You,” calls on the creativity of area students to design and paint the murals on 2-by-4 foot wood panels.

“I thought it would be a way to get kids in the neighborhood involved,” she said.

Zoesch is looking for schools and community centers to adopt the project but has not had much luck so far, she said. There is not enough room inside classrooms to paint the panels.

Zoesch said she expects to have more interest in the spring, when children can work outside.

The city has donated 30 panels, and local paint stores sold Zoesch the exterior latex paint at a discount. She has drawn one sample panel depicting a cat in a window framed by curtains.

“We are trying to live down our reputation as a poor community,” she said. “We’ve got a good neighborhood here.”

Local Code Enforcement Officer Scott Emmerson, who helped come up with the idea, will help children mount the panels.

The neighborhood is cleaning up, he said, and is much better than it was seven years ago, when he started working there. Still, there are plenty of boarded-up houses that could use dressing up.

“It’s a wonderful way to bring the neighborhood together with the COP shop to solve one of our problems,” he said.

AT A GLANCE Where to call For more information on “Here’s Looking at You,” or to participate, call East Central COPS at 625-3330.

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