To: DSR, Re: Murals

(Comment sent anon, so I can't reply privately to it).

Dear DSR:

 Received your email, am way too busy right now to do much about your request, but it is in the pipeline. Working towards a more mural-friendly city in Saint Petersburg is going to require a lot of activism and convincing, face-to-face with government, property owners, developers, etc. In my opinion, it is a question of identity. Yes, we all have our own individual identities, wants, desires, ideas about art, but this is like making a movie, in that it has to be a collaborative effort. I received an interesting article from a friend about an incredibly daring and interesting effort to prevent murals and walls from being taken down after the arts work their magic and adjoining areas become desirable/valuable. This is of supreme importance, because historically as soon as things improve, the same people that fought murals at the beginning, and loved them later, step in to kill them, and boot the artists out. Sustainability matters. We have to think of things in both the short and long term. Anything that is not bolted down will be stolen. I will talk with a few people about this, hopefully to try to stem the present dimming of murals in Saint Petersburg.

Where is that dream developer (literally and figuratively) who is going to rise to the cause of the arts and do the right thing? Show the City what the future could look like? Wherever you are, we have been waiting for you. Many are in a position to do so, and we all know who you are. Now is the time.

--- Luis