In Rogers Park, They're Putting Lipstick on Pigs

49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore wants to paint over the crumbling infrastructure of CTA and Metra underpasses in Rogers Park. It's like putting lipstick on pigs. Moore is good at coverups. We are all still wondering what happened to that box of ballots in the April 2007 aldermanic run-off election, for example, and we'd love to know what kind of paper Moore and convicted check kiter Robert Creamer used to exchange in a back office. Another kind of coverup that the Rogers Park alderman is good at: Putting lipstick on a pig. While CTA and Metra underpasses are crumbling throughout the city, including his own 49th Ward, Moore wants murals on the rusting steel and crumbling concrete. It won't improve the underpasses one bit structurally, of course, and undoubtedly some folks will not be pleased with the artwork that will finally be applied. In the photos here, we see crumbling CTA infrastructure. Is Moore trying to get this fixed? Nope, but he's elated that pretty paint will soon be applied to underpasses such as these. (Above: CTA underpass at N. Glenwood and W. Pratt. Left: Crumbling underpass at Jarvis CTA station, one block from Moore's 49th Ward Service Office.) Moore and his leftist pals seem to have a phobia about blank spaces. If a wall is simply white or gray, it reminds them of how empty their own lives are and so they try to fill it with something, anything, just to fill it. They did this a few years ago by hiring an artist to apply a dreadful mural on the Morse Avenue CTA underpass (photo below). After the garish thing was completed, the Morse underpass was still crumbling. The only difference the mural made: Instead of a white, crumbling structure, the Morse underpass became a crumbling structure painted in a garish, day-glo psychedlic acid trip vomit motiff. The mural has not reduced the level of crime near the station and it has not motivated businesses to move onto Morse Avenue. The mural was nothing more than a public relations stunt by Moore. Today, the mural is peeling, cracking, and stained by water that leeches through the crumbling cement (see two photos below). While the Morse Avenue Mural project was underway in 2008, Moore and others spoke dreamily of a "Mile of Murals" project along the CTA elevated tracks in Rogers Park, already well past the promised date of August, 2007. That didn't happen, in part because CTA backed out of the deal. Now, Moore has come up with an alternate plan, which he outlined in an email blast on Wednesday, June 23, 2010. "Calling All Artists!" screamed the headline of Moore's June 23 email, "Applications to Design an Underpass Mural Now Being Accepted." "Dear Neighbor," wrote Moore, "All Chicago-based artists are invited to submit a design for one of twelve murals that will grace the CTA and Metra underpasses in the 49th Ward. The 'Mass Underpass Murals Project' was one of the funding proposals that received voter approval in the Participatory Budgeting Election last April in which I gave the 49th Ward residents the power to determine how I would spend the 49th Ward's capital budget allocation." The "Participatory Budgeting Election" that Moore refers to was a publicity stunt back in April. Moore "asked the residents of the 49th Ward to decide directly how to spend his $1.3 million capital budget for 2010. Over the past six months, 49th Ward residents identifiedneeds, researched projects, and prepared full spending proposals. Beginning April 5, 2010, with early voting, and culminating in an election held on April 10th,2010, all 49th Ward residents age 16 and over, regardless of citizenship or voter registrationstatus, were invited to vote for their favorite ward improvement projects. Each voter was entitled to vote for up to eight (8) projects. Ballots were cast by 1,652 ward residents." (Source: 49th Ward Participatory Budgeting Initiative April 10, 2010 Election Result - PDF) The population of the 49th Ward is just over 60,000. There are approximately 20,000 registered voters, but Moore is very proud that 1,652 "ward residents" - including a few illegal aliens, no doubt - decided how to spend the $1.3 million capital budget. The items chosen are mostly laughable in these times of city budgetary crunches. The underpass murals will cost $84,000 ("estimated") and received an unimpressive 740 votes. Compare that to these more practical items: "Additional Benches and Shelters on CTA 'El' Platforms" would also cost an "estimated" $84,000 but received only 487 votes. A "Traffic/Pedestrian Signal on Clark at Chase," estimated at $230,000, received only 494 votes. Another item, "Street Resurfacing: 1200-1500 W. Lunt," will cost an "estimated" $93,500 but received only 210 votes. In fact, it was a "runner up" project and received less votes than any other item. Another runner-up was "Intersection safety improvements at Clark and Farwell," estimated to cost a mere $2,600. That received 334 votes. So, painting over crumbling infrastructure is a higher priority in Rogers Park than is street resurfacing, benches and shelters on CTA platforms, and intersection safety. And Joe Moore is pleased as punch about that. One wonders what kind of idiots voted in Moore's "Participatory Budgeting Election" and why their priorities are so screwy. If you're an artist who is eager to rip off the taxpayers, you can apply to paint one of the murals here or pick up an application during regular business hours at Moore's 49th Ward Service Office, 7356 N. Greenview (at Jarvis). The following CTA underpasses are designated to receive a mural: Columbia, Estes, Farwell, Greenleaf, Pratt. The following Union Pacific (Metra) underpasses are designated to receive a mural: Estes, Farwell, Greenleaf, Morse, Pratt, Rogers, Touhy.

Kind Note From Colorado

A reader in Colorado wrote in response to a recent post on The Bench about a public mural project in Glenwood Springs. Thank you for the coverage of mural projects in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I have just recently come back to Colorado. I spent the last 11 years in Michigan as Artist in Residence for MSU and the Kellogg Foundation, working with inner city folks and also the rural arts program. We created murals all over the state and used art as a vehicle to discuss value systems and decision making. I was partially trained in Chicago through the Gallery 37 program. If anyone would like to contact me my email address is renickart@yahoo.com. My history is Artist in Residence at San Jose State in the 1960's. I worked with Caesar Chavez in Delano and learned from him about community organizing Saul Links style. I have been a painter for 67 years and live in Glenwood Springs. I am glad the mural we just completed looks like some 6-year old painters did it. Actually, we had 18- month-old and 84-year old folks work on it. I have an 800-ft mural in the old Kellogg Sanitarium, now Federal Center in Battle Creek, Michigan, not to mention many more all over the country. Thank you for noticing. Hey, you're welcome and thank you for writing.

Screamin' Mo Cahill (Updated)

Hey Mo

August 20, 2007 - She's so cutting edge, so progressive, so ... Establishment! Contradictions? Not in the mind of Mo Cahill, a local arts-and-crafts lady who has to give away free buttons with a co-opted expression that she did not create to get people to buy her arts-and-crafts. (Continues below update...)

---

Update, January 4, 2015: MO'S WOES, Harborer of Rats: Seems she's trying to be an urban farmer, and that got her into some hot water with the City of Chicago late last year. While other people are capable of following the city's rules for such farms, Mo just can't get it right. Of course, it's not her fault that the city is picking on her unfairly just because she completely screwed up so badly on multiple charges that include endangering the public health. In her own self-righteous way, Mo Cahill is convinced that she's done nothing wrong. Here, read for yourself at DNA Info.  

Mo has a hard time with original concepts, too: She calls her rat harbor urban farm "Moah's Ark," but that name is already taken by a professional landscaping service in England. On her LinkedIn profile she says, "my skills and passions intersect at designing for political campaigns and issues." Wot? Note to Mo: Use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. It's sure to impress even your most artsy-fartsies. The LinkedIn profile continues with, "i spend a lot of my time sidewalk teaching and preaching about sustainable agriculture and the plight of the planet. and about responsible stewardship of whatever little parcel of dirt is home." Responsible stewardship? In Mo's world, that apparently does not include rat control or consideration of neighbors. From DNA Info: 

“So there's this thing called rat harborage and it does not require them to show any evidence of an actual rat, it just requires the city inspector to say, I think a rat would really like it here,” said CaHill.

“The educational opportunity that this place right behind us here provides this community is anything but a hazard,” said Andrenia.

The neighbors who are not supportive of CaHill's garden did not want to comment on camera.

Poor Mo Cahill is so dimwitted that she can't grasp the fact that rats like piles of debris made of tree parts from landscapers, logs and wood chips, and just because you see rats doesn't mean they're not there or would be attracted to the piles in the future. The city has rules, ya know. It's like the health code rule that says a restaurant must not leave doors or windows open to a kitchen because it could allow vermin to enter, but the restaurant owner does so anyway and defends his irresponsible action just because he hasn't yet seen any rat poop on the counters. 

As for her "educational opportunity," well, that only speaks to her conceit and self-importance. Mo Cahill's little operation is Amateurville compared to a lot of other urban farming projects. (See a list of those urban farms here and compare.) What great wisdom can Professor Farmer Mo Cahill, PhD teach us by growing ordinary crops in non-astounding amounts in ordinary dirt and preaching about the demise of planet earth to any unfortunate passersby on the sidewalk? There's nothing revolutionary happening in Mo Cahill's garden. The fact that neighbors who "are not supportive" of her "farm" were afraid to comment on the record indicates that, well, they're afraid of Screamin' Mo (see below). 

And just for chuckles, read "still more woes for Big Mo" at conservativecave.com. The best comment there: "So if it's a republican hit with building code violations he's a slumlord, but if it's a DUmmie it's the overreaching of the state." Yep, that's how it works in Mo's World.  

---

Original Article, Continued: Cahill is well known in the Rogers Park neighborhood for lurking in the comments of other peoples' blogs, using the nom de web of "been there." She is also well known as the woman who, in a Howard Dean-like moment, screamed at the Mile of Murals meeting that kids are not good enough to participate in the Rogers Park neighborhood mural painting project.

Cahill, who publicly poses as a progressive liberal, has revealed herself to be just another Establishmentarian. She recently claimed that 14- and 15-year old kids do not have enough talent to work on a public mural, calling it a "slap in the face" to say they are capable of such a feat. She sold out for a few shekkels to The Man, the Establishment, the local Political Powers.

Apparently, Cahill's pink buttons are not working. She is quoted by the Broken Heart blog as saying, "I have been putting in more time in my studio, doing more political work... an actual job, tho temporary, may have landed in my lap. There is a local project to do a mural, hopefully the first of many annual projects. actual cash money."

Perhaps we should remind ourselves of RPB's recent revelations that the "Mile of Murals" project is way behind schedule NOT because of the Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG), but because of the locals who are tripping over their own egos and incompetence to put their own stamp on the project. Those individuals are certain members of SSA#24, DevCorp North and the alderman's office. The CTA is partly to blame as well, as sources report to RPB that CTA management is getting overly picky about the art that will go onto CTA's walls.

One wonders what Mo Cahill is contributing to this FUBAR situation. She's made herself a public figure by virtue of her web sites (plural), her ranting on the blogs as "been there" even though she knows that we all know who "been there" really is, and declaring that she is "doing more political work."

Therefore, none of us should feel the need to treat Cahill with kid gloves. If her contributions to the Mile of Murals project are anything like her inane, poorly punctuated and never capitalized blog comments, it may be even longer before the project is completed. Or even begun. While we congratulate Mo on her job, but we question the judgment of her new employer.

Also See:
CPAG's Stuffed Turkey
Hey Mo: Closing the Circle

This Is Your CTA

These photos were taken at the intersection of N. Glenwood and W. Pratt in Rogers Park, Chicago.

Thanks to Carl Lingenfelter of the CTA for letting SSA#24 paint pretty pictures on this crumbling wall.

Dear CPAG...

I hope Rob answers my email. I had the pleasure of meeting him on Monday this week. Articulate and passionate, he is a good spokesman for Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG). I invited him to present CPAG's position on the mural over Morse Avenue, as well as the upcoming mural project for the CTA wall between Morse and Lunt. Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 Subject: Morse Avenue Mural To: rob@cpag.net Dear Rob, Thanks again for spending time with me on the corner of Morse and Glenwood today. I appreciate your passion for what you do, and would like to re-state my invitation to you to write about CPAG and what they do. I will give you an open forum for the piece you write. As for how the community can be made to feel more a part of the process: Please understand (to repeat myself) that I have no quarrel with the Reeds or with the idea of public art per se. The only sore point in the specific case of the Morse Avenue CTA mural is the way in which DevCorp North put it out to the public. If you go to DevCorp's web site, at the very top you will see "Welcome to DevCorp North, Rogers Park's business, community and economic development organization." The problem, then, is not with the art or the artists per se. The problem is with the process by which a corporation (DevCorp) that is charged specifically with improving and helping the business community of Rogers Park. DevCorp did not open it up to Rogers Park bidding. The Rogers Park artistic community seems to have been ignored; many did not know about the project until it was already a done deal, and then it simply announced as a fait acccompli. So, regardless of the art itself, it is the process by DevCorp that is in question. Keep in mind that this is just one more instance of DevCorp (and the alderman's office) announcing that something has been done without any community input. But I digress. I want to get your side of the story. I sincerely hope you will accept the invitation to present the CPAG story and position to about 400+ readers daily at Rogers Park Bench (http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com). Sincere thanks and kind regards, Tom Mannis

Does This Mural Have a Warranty?

The pre-fabricated mural started being glued onto the west side of the CTA Red Line overpass on Morse Avenue on Monday, June 25. This morning (Friday), the artists were gluing up the final strips. Less than a week later, the mural is bubbling, peeling and has portions that are not evenly applied.

The top-left photo was taken on Monday, June 25 at 12:49 p.m. The top-right photo was taken at 4:16 p.m. on Thursday, June 28.

The second photo on the right was taken at 10:29 p.m. on Thursday, June 28. Already, a large strip was peeling way back and flapping in the wind. Even as the artists were "finishing" their work on Friday morning, the piece continued to flap in the breeze.

Meanwhile, other sections of the mural have been applied over cracks, bumps and leaking water in the crumbling concrete CTA overpass. Other portions have strips that are applied asymmetrically.

Old stains from the filthy water that has leaked through the crumbling structure for years have not been taken care of. What effect will this leaking water have on the integrity of the prefab mural strips?

Clarified Clarification (the Damned Mural)

Marcy Sperry is a fantastic writer. Her blog concentrates on the artistic community and the business of being an artist. It's a good read, and she is a thoughtful writer. I am about to criticize something she wrote yesterday. This is not meant as a criticism of her personally.

Yesterday, Marcy wrote wrote this, in part, in a post she titled "Clarification":

I wanted to clarify that when I wrote yesterday that I was tired of hearing about murals and "beautification," I didn't mean to suggest that murals cannot have significant political power and meaning beyond being merely decorative. There is of course a long history of murals as an important public form of social and political commentary. Look at yesterday's post by Lee Bey on a mural's power (also note one of the artists she mentions who did the renovation in 2003). My larger point was that when the topic of art as a revitalizing force in the neighborhood does bother to get brought up into public discussion, it always seems to be only in these nearsighted "art makes pretty" terms. I'm suggesting that we can broaden those terms.

Marcy makes good points, but they miss the mark as to why the mural is controversial. The reference to Lee Bey's fine piece is completely irrelevant to the DevCorp selection process and DevCorp's obligations to Rogers Park's artists and other business people. The point of my objection - shared by others - is not the aesthetic quality of the art. It is the way in which the artists, from outside of Rogers Park, were chosen. As I've said repeatedly, there is no quarrel with the artists. They were offered work and they accepted it. No crime, no foul on their part. However...

The fact that these are NOT local artists IS the point, and demonstrates the hypocrisy of DevCorp and Ald. Moore. This, in turn, is symptomatic of a larger syndrome of grafting their vision onto the neighborhood, public input be damned. When a DevCorp guy insisted to me that these were "local artists," in spite of my being told by one of the artist partners that they are from Bronzeville/Hyde Park, he was lying. Yes, lying.

We could look at each issue that way, I suppose, and say, "Well, that contractor had to shuck out ten grand in contributions to get the permits, but hey, that's the wrong thing to emphasize, let's look at the bigger picture." But in doing that you miss the bigger picture. Every jigsaw puzzle is made up of many pieces. Ignore one and you cannot complete the puzzle.

Marcy Sperry continued:

To clarify even more, I don't want the community to throw this artist under the bus because some do not like the way DevCorp North does their business. That's not his problem. I welcome his art with open arms. To echo another, muralgate, finis! (...uh, I can hope, can't I?).

Nobody is throwing "this artist" under the bus (it's actually two artists; a husband-wife team). Again, this "clarification" misses the entire point of the snubbing of a good portion of the Rogers Park business community: Artists. Which portion of the Rogers Park business community is next?

Mural Mural, on the Wall...

The west side of the Morse Avenue CTA overpass mural is completed, more or less. Next step, cover up the clean, white east side of the overpass with the same garrish colors.

Muralgate: Just Getting Warmed Up

The controversy over the Morse Avenue mural, currently being applied to the CTA overpass, only came to light this week. It is not over, in spite of what some may say. Rogers Park's artist community has been slighted, passed over. They - and the whole community - deserve an apology and an explanation from DevCorp and the 49th Ward alderman's office. Kheris, a local blogger for whom I have enormous personal respect, pronounced the current controversy over the DevCorp/CTA mural over Morse Avenue to be "Finis," finished, done, over. Let's just move on, forget the whole thing, right? I respectfully disagree that it's over. Kheris references a piece by local writer Marcy Sperry, who I also referenced in a post yesterday called "The Pain of Public Art." Kheris cites Sperry's piece as a nail in the coffin of Muralgate. That is simply wrong. While Marcy Sperry wrote that there is "a bigger picture" than this one mural over Morse Avenue, I would say that the mural is symptomatic of the ruling of Rogers Park by whim and fiat. To ignore the mural would be akin to ignoring the symptom of a disease. While the disease must be treated, so must the symptoms. And the symptoms, of course, indicate that there is a much bigger problem. Marcy Sperry correctly pointed out that there are empty storefronts along Morse Avenue (and throughout Rogers Park). Another mural is just a lame attempt to divert the peasants from seeing the problems. Do we ignore each of these individual problems because "there is a bigger picture?" One doesn't want to miss the forest for the trees, but we cannot forget that the forest is, after all, a big group of single trees. The gnarled DevCorp-Joe Moore forest can only be cut down one crooked tree at a time.

Commercial Corridor Funny Business

Kheris has a great posting today about the now-controversial Morse mural. She rips a new one for those behind it, by quoting from the "Commercial Corridor Plan for Howard Street & Morse Avenue."

"Identify opportunities in all districts for local art, such as murals, painted street furniture, and sculptures. Work should be done by local artists as much as possible." Perhaps the CTA is behind the mural, which lets Dev Corp off the hook. This time. Anyone have any better insights?