Community Rejuvenation Project Archives - Community Rejuvenation Project

CRP Begins New Mural Project, Announces Community Painting Day

November 7, 2014

Fall is here and with it comes another exciting new mural by the talented artists of CRP, Desi Mundo and Pancho Peskador. The two recently began work on painting the union hall of Local 20, the Engineers and Scientists of California (IFPTE, AFL-CIO & CLC), located at the intersection of 8th and Clay Sts. in Old Oakland. The mural is a partnership between CRP, Local 20, and Youth Spirit Artworks, an interfaith “green” art jobs and job training program which…

Alice Street Mural Project A Big Hit With Local Media Outlets

August 21, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates, Press Clippings

Recently, CRP pulled off a pretty cool feat: within the course of ten days, the Alice Street Mural Project received media hits from the Mercury News , Oakland Tribune, KQED, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s newsletter, Oakland Tribune (again), and the Contra Costa Times. That’s easily the most attention from local media CRP has ever gotten for any of the 150 mural projects the organization has done in the past four years. Even more impressive was what the media had to…

Alice St. Mural Project Phase I Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Highlights

August 14, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates, Events

On Friday, August 8, 2014, CRP announced the completion of Phase I of the Alice St. Mural Project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, held in the parking lot at Alice and 14th St., in front of two sections of the mural wall. The event, which was noted by the Oakland Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, and KQED, was an overwhelming success, with over 120 attendees, including approximately 75 residents of the Hotel Oakland, along with neighborhood residents and artists-in-residence at…

Alice Street Mural Project Report-Back

July 17, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates

After a little more than a week of painting the wall at 14th and Alice, CRP is pleased to report the wall is nearing completion. This project has been a real eye-opener; the level of interaction we’ve had with the community has been unprecedented. It’s not an exaggeration to say the mural has started to become a magnet for community-building, even before it’s completed. The project started with covering the entire wall—covered with unsightly and highly unartistic graffiti tags–with…

South Shore Mural a Shining Beacon in Chicago’s Sea of Bureaucracy and Brown Paint

June 20, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates

Chicago, Illinois, is a city with a deep division over public art. A case in point: The city’s controversial “Graffiti Blasters” abatement program, which for the past 21 years has criminalized street artists and muralists, by linking aerosol expression of any kind with gang violence. Introduced in 1993, the same year as the classic hip-hop albums “Midnight Marauders” and “93 Til Infinity,” Graffiti Blasters – the name sounds like a lightweight racist take on the term “ghetto blaster” – became…

CRP x StopWaste.org x Melrose Leadership Academy mural raises awareness about composting

April 28, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates

Did you know composting food waste is one of the easiest and most effective ways of recycling? According to Stopwaste.org, food scraps and food-soiled paper – paper plates, pizza boxes, and paper napkins – comprise the largest portion of the waste stream. Such scraps represent 35% of all waste in Alameda County. While removing harmful toxic waste and hazardous household waste is more complicated and may require safety precautions, recycling food scraps by sending them to a composting facility allows…

The Zero Graffiti International Conference: At Odds with Long Term Solutions?

January 25, 2013

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds

The First Annual Zero Graffiti International Conference was held in San Francisco last week. Hundreds of police officers, public works officials, “graffiti” consultants, and industry reps from 52 cities gathered as the industry that has grown up around abatement announced that it had made $17 billion in profit in the United State alone. Despite the massive expenditure, no study has been undertaken to measure the effectiveness of simple abatement on vandalism recidivism. San Francisco alone spends $20 – 30 million…

Bratton, Broken Windows and the Anti-Graffiti Ordinance

January 24, 2013

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds

What’s perhaps most problematic about both Oakland’s hiring of Bill Bratton and its anti-graffiti ordinance is that they represent a shift in city politics toward tough-on-crime rhetoric as opposed to identifying and pursuing holistic solutions, which could have more beneficial long-term impact.

Richmond residents dig into Greenway and MLK celebration

January 24, 2013

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Press Clippings

Desi W.O.M.E., of Community Rejuvenation Project, center, helps paint the face of one of the first urban farmers of Richmond. “We’re working more with the community to create something that’s beautiful and powerful and that involves community,” W.O.M.E. said of their two-block mural. (Photo by: Tyler Orsburn) By Tyler Orsburn for Richmond Confidential January 22, 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud of Richmond Monday. Mother Nature would have been thrilled, too, as more than 400…

Oakland officials consider new graffiti ordinance

January 8, 2013

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Press Clippings

A mural on Willow Street in West Oakland By Charles Berkowitz in Oakland North, November 27, 2012 5:31 pm With several enlarged photographs of blighted Oakland property leaned up against the chamber windows, Oakland’s Public Works Committee convened Tuesday morning to consider a new graffiti ordinance that would bolster the city’s current vandalism laws. The ordinance, proposed by City Attorney Barbara Parker and District 3 Councilmember Nancy Nadel, would enhance penalties for violators, increase criminal charges from an infraction to…