Hyde Park Si, Graffiti No
A s many neighbors know by now, there was some location shooting in Hyde Park recently for a movie called Every Word is True. The movie is about Truman Capote, his relationship with Harper Lee, and the research he did on his big best-seller In Cold Blood. Hyde Park was chosen because the location scouts thought it looked liked Kansas in the 1950's, which it does, especially when a bevy of 1950's-vintage cars are parked all
|
around. Among the stars making appearances in the film are Anjelica Huston, Sigourney Weaver, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isabella Rosellini and others. Since the shooting was taking place only two doors down from me, I thought it would be hospitable to offer some of the hardworking performers a little respite. Accordingly, I swept the front porch and was prepared to offer them lemonade, or at the very least a margarita. But before dropping by the set,
|
| | | | | | | | | | | |
I looked around the neighborhood
and saw the graffiti everywhere:
stop signs, telephone poles, dump-
sters, telecom pedestals, etc. My
block might look like Kansas, but
too much of the rest looks like the
South Bronx. How could I look Is-
abella Rosellini in the face with so
much gunk plastered all over the
place? I was too embarrassed to of-
fer an invitation, and retreated to
my front porch and found another
use for the margaritas.
Seriously folks, we need a real
cleanup, the sooner the better.
Good corporate neighbor Grande
Communications has offered to provide anti-graffiti wipes that
work quickly on most graffiti, and paint to cover any of their
pedestals with particularly stubborn graffiti. Experience has shown that the sooner the graffiti is removed, the more effective the deterrent. The longer is stays on, the harder it is to remove, and it works like a magnet, drawing other misguided taggers to add their "contribution." We need someone to step forward and head a graffiti committee, of which I and several other neighbors would readily become members. First we need a cleanup, then we need a plan to get this stuff off within 24 hours or so after it goes up. This is wholly within the realm of the doable. All it takes is a little organization and a little elbow grease. Any takers? In other news, this month's meeting will feature a presentation on different surfaces available |
| | | | | | | | | | | |
on alleys by Steve Roberts, a superintendent with Austin's Street
& Bridge Department. In the old days, according to Roberts, the city
would pave alleys in the same way streets are paved, with costs split
50-50 between the city and the residents. Although that program no
longer exists, he did say such an agreement might be possible again.
He will have pictures of other surfaces available. A search is underway for a nature presentation but negotiations were still underway at press time. There will also be some major announcements about our upcoming Historic Homes Tour. See you there!
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||