Kansas City Council endorses painting Black Lives Matter street murals
Kansas City officials on Thursday endorsed the idea of painting Black Lives Matter murals on six streets around the city and will help control traffic and close streets to get it done.
City Council members voted 12-1 in favor of a resolution saying the city “recognizes the importance and significance of the Black Lives Matter movement and desires to commemorate the message through painting street murals.”
The legislation says the murals will be at Briarcliff Parkway and North Mulberry Drive; Baltimore Avenue and 10th Street; 18th and Vine Streets; Troost Avenue and 31st Street; Brookside Boulevard and 63rd Street; and Meyer Boulevard and Troost Avenue.
Councilman Eric Bunch, 4th District, carried the legislation on the City Council floor, saying he strongly supported what he called a “symbolic step” while acknowledging that “no amount of paint on the streets, murals on the street...are going to create systemic change.”
“This is a step forward towards helping elevate the conversation and bring more light to this very important issue,” Bunch said.
Across the country, cities including New York, Washington and Tuscaloosa, Ala., have painted similar murals on their streets to support the movement, which has America confronting its racist history in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.
Councilwoman Heather Hall, 1st District, was the lone vote against the measure. In an interview, she said her objection was not over what the mural would say. She said a Black Lives Matter mural would have a “complete valid reason to be in Kansas City” and she welcomed the idea of painting such murals on walls or billboards.
She said it’s a public safety issue, citing a city ordinance she said prohibited such a mural. She worried cars could get confused about where the boundaries between lanes of traffic are.
“As soon as somebody crosses that line and they hit another car, then who is at fault?” Hall said.
She added: “This is a slippery slope because now they’ve opened up the floodgates for anybody to put anything on the streets.”
This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 6:31 PM.
