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Streetfilms: Students Paint the Pavement in Brooklyn

1:40 PM EDT on May 18, 2009

Can public art also mean public safety? A weekend addition to a Brooklyn street could be the start of something big. Clarence Eckerson explains:  

In what is being called the first event of its kind in New York City, Livable Streets Education teamed up with Community Roots Charter School and P.S. 67, with a helping hand from New York Cares and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, to paint a magnificent mural on St. Edwards Street in FortGreene, Brooklyn. The project, which was designed by art students, wasdone with the blessing of NYC DOTunder its new Urban Art Program. These short term public art installations are referred to as "Arterventions."

Not only did these students beautify their school's street, they also identified it to motorists as a thoroughfare frequented by school-age pedestrians in a way that mere signage and conventional markings do not. There are hundreds of school zones across the city that could benefit from the same treatment.

The city recognizes the risks posed by idling vehicles near schools. Why not replicate this low cost, high impact project to lessen the hazards of vehicles in motion?

Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York'’s dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

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