In his continual effort to trade a benign, white-washed version of New York City for tourist dollars, Mayor Bloomberg took the liberty of removing graffiti from the buildings that surround the newly refurbished High Line park. In November of 2008, a NYC based conceptual artist hand-painted a 7'x5' mural of his take on the iconic 'I ♥ New York' symbol to celebrate the refurbished High Line. He writes on his website:"This painting was at once homage to Highline's graffiti and street art as a protest to the rumored erasure to come before the public opening of the Highline Park."The mural and all nearby graffiti were painted over in the Spring of 2009 despite the wishes of an architect associated with the project to keep it. An article earlier this year on Gothamist quoted him as saying:
"An architect associated with the Highline rehabilitation tells our source, 'We fought to save it but the mayor and the Parks authority have a zero tolerance policy. Really really sucks...I just heard from the director of planning at the Friends of the Highline. He says that the Highline organization does not consider itself responsible for protecting the historic graffiti that adorns the buildings adjacent to the highline. He also said that the mayor's office made private decisions with the property owners without consulting the public.This unilateral decision is troublesome. I hope you agree with me that they should have run public conversations about whether to preserve any of this stuff.'"
Of course the graffiti and street artists aren't the only ones who have to worry about offending the High Line crowd. A billboard advertisement for Armani Exchange featuring a woman clawing at a 30-foot crotch was quickly replaced after the park's opening. And we won't even get into the porno-riffic Standard Hotel.The original 'I ♥ New York' piece along with some then and now photos of the High Line park can be viewed on the artist's website.
I'm totally saddened by not only what is becoming the whitewashing of New York City but the freedom we seem to be losing as well. NY was once the center of diversity, creativity, and freedom of expression by it's people.
I am not a resident of NY, which gives me some objectivity when I do visit the City twice year. Every time I come, there are unwelcome changes such as the removal of the DKNY advertisement, the Twin Towers being honored in the background. Historical buildings are being replaced to make way for yet another K-Mart.
Not allowing the public to have a say by doing an end-around and privately contacting the owners of the property doesn't bode well for Mayor-For-Life Bloomberg. In my opinion, this is a sneaky thing to do that does little to inspire trust.
I'm hoping the citizens of NY ~ the toughest people in the world ~ will prevent the morphing of their city into a whitebread, cookie-cutter culture.