Op-Eds Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Community Rejuvenation Project

Developers Vs. Art (Op/Ed)

August 25, 2015

CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds, Public Art Policy

This past July, the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area (BIA) – a developer’s club, whose members includes realtors, construction companies, mortgage lenders, and building manufacturers—joined forces with conservative legal activists Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) to challenge a recent Oakland public art ordinance. The PLF filed a lawsuit on the BIA’s behalf in federal courts, alleging Oakland committed a civil rights violation in enacting the ordinance, which expands current percent for art requirements to private (1%) and residential…

Rethinking the Abatement Industrial Complex from a Public Art Policy Framework

May 29, 2015

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds, Public Art Policy

Since its founding in 2007, the Community Rejuvenation Project has sought to transform communities with holistic, vibrant, and uplifting murals which engage and inspire viewers. A large part of our work, however, has been overcoming negative perceptions of street art, which is often linked to vandalism and youth crime. We have also seen the need for sounder, saner, and more sensible policy around public art and graffiti abatement, as well as for more communication and better cooperation between all stakeholders…

Ken Houston and the Fallacy of the Abatement-Industrial Complex

May 20, 2015

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds, Public Art Policy

Fourteen months ago, in January 2014, self-proclaimed “community advocate” and wanna-be Oakland Mayoral candidate Ken Houston addressed a roomful of business owners, mass transit corporate executives, high-ranking police officers, journalists and a sprinkling of local and state elected officials or their representatives, invited on behalf of the East Oakland Beautification Council, a community initiative developed under the auspices of the Turner Construction Group (on whose website the group’s minutes appear), a major developer whose past projects include the Fox Theater and…

Oakland Tribune Reports: City Council Has Only Spent a Fraction of Abatement Mural Allotment

April 30, 2015

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds, Press Clippings, Public Art Policy

As CRP previously reported , Councilmember Desley Brooks (D6) is on record as telling KPFA’s Davey D, “Neighborhoods in West Oakland and East Oakland need to have public art.” Yet in an Oakland Tribune article published on Sunday, April 26, it was revealed that Brooks and her fellow Councilmembers have dragged their feet in allocating funds set aside in 2013 for abatement murals. As reporter Mike Blasky noted, “Of the $400,000 the council approved, only $14,100 has been formally allocated,…

Why Are Representatives of Oakland’s Blight-Challenged Districts Reluctant to Commission Abatement Murals?

March 25, 2015

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds

On March 18, District 6 Councilmember Desley Brooks told Hard Knock Radio’s Davey-D, “Neighborhoods in West Oakland and East Oakland need to have public art.” The Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP) couldn’t agree more. In fact, as part of the Oakland Community Art Coalition, our efforts in 2012 led to the creation of a $400,000 budget line item for abatement murals in the city’s budget – 50k per Council district (plus the at-large seat). But those murals have been slow to…

The Privatization of Public Art

February 26, 2015

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds, Public Art Policy

Last November, then-Councilmember Libby Schaff proposed a new ordinance which required a percentage of new development–.5% for residential property, and 1% for private development—for “public art.” The ordinance further codified an existing public art program, which provides 1.5% of capital improvement projects to “commission and acquire public art.” Yet while the existing public art fund is administered by the city’s Cultural Arts dept., the new ordinance “provides developers with the option of commissioning public art on the development site or…

Ready Set Recycle! Win Prizes While Learning About Food Scrap Recycling

September 3, 2014

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds

And now a PSA from our partner, StopWaste.org: Where do you put your leftover food scraps from dinner? Or how about that greasy pizza box? Put your knowledge to the test at ReadySetRecycle.org and you could win prizes. The Ready Set Recycle website offers prizes for entering the Recycling Rewards Challenge and provides recycling tips and resources for Alameda County Residents. It offers information for preventing valuable resources from going into landfill and rewards for testing your food scrap recycling…

It’s Time to Rethink Graffiti Abatement Strategies

February 5, 2013

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CRP Blog & Updates, Op-Eds

The answer to the graffiti problem isn’t throwing money down the abatement black hole or instituting stricter zero-tolerance policies. Any viable solution must revolve around the creation of sound, forward-thinking policy which avoids knee-jerk reactionism and repeating mistakes which have been made in the past. San Jose’s example shows that permanent reductions in graffiti vandalism through zero tolerance measures aren’t sustainable, and that with current abatement strategies, sometimes you get less than you pay for.

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.