Look-out Graffiti... there’s a new canvas in town.

There is increasing concern in our neighborhood with the rash of graffiti and tagging plaguing businesses and private residences. To answer this concern, the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce is organizing a task force called "Art Up Greenwood-Phinney" to find solutions to this growing issue. The new task force will address cleaning up graffiti and tagging on buildings in addition to forming teams of artists to create murals on the larger blank walls in our area. The idea behind this two-pronged approach is to clean up and beautify our neighborhood at the same time.

Often, graffiti and tagging are a result of youths trying to gain notoriety amongst their peers. Wiping out tags is not enough to make the perpetrators realize the negative impact to this neighborhood. An important part of this task force will involve teams of artists who will work with youth to create urban contemporary murals. Creating these murals sets an example of a positive outlet for a public audience and peer approval.

Art Up Greenwood-Phinney is a collaborative effort between business owners, property owners, artists, neighbors and youth all working to "art up" our neighborhood. Art Up will be working with the City of Seattle to apply for a matching fund grant for cleaning supplies. Everyone who is interested in finding out more about this project is invited to attend an introductory meeting on Wednesday, May 14th at 6:30pm at Mae’s Café located on 65th and Phinney. If you would like to be kept updated on future meetings, please email the Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce at artup@greenwood-phinney.com and ask to be added to the email list for this task force.