Brooklyn

Saturday: Paint the Pavement With Brooklyn Students

If you're in Fort Greene tomorrow, drop by 51 St. Edwards Street for some great Livable Streets action. Students from the Community Roots Charter School will be out in the street from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., working on a new mural covering the pavement in front of their school, and volunteers are welcome to join in. The mural painting is the joint handiwork of DOT's Urban Art Program, Livable Streets Education, and local artists and teachers. Sound unusual? It is. We're told this may be the first time NYCDOT has ever approved a pavement painting project.

By Ben Fried

3:11 PM EDT on May 15, 2009

Laying down a fresh coat on Portland’s Sunnyside Piazza.

If you’re in Fort Greene tomorrow, drop by 51 St. Edwards Street for some great Livable Streets action. Students from the Community Roots Charter School will be out in the street from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., working on a new mural covering the pavement in front of their school, and volunteers are welcome to join in. The mural painting is the joint handiwork of DOT’s Urban Art Program, Livable Streets Education, and local artists and teachers. Sound unusual? It is. We’re told this may be the first time NYCDOT has ever approved a pavement painting project.

While DOT isn’t calling the mural a street reclamation, the spirit is similar to Portland’s “intersection repair” and Ocean City’s “traffic safety quilt”. Those projects created can’t-miss signs for drivers to slow down and look out for people. And is there anywhere in New York City that could use some eye-popping, windshield-piercing street art more than school zones? Let’s hope that tomorrow’s pavement painting is the first of many.

Ben Fried

Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.