[All] promote good public art -- help save the Dairy Queen mural

[Gregory C. Michalenko]

Dear Grenlings and Friends,

The young manager of the Dairy Queen at University and Weber in Waterloo commissioned six local artists to paint a  mural on the side of the store.  It's delightful and creative, a true celebration of the the culture of ice cream.  But the stuffy sign bylaw official of the City wants it to be removed because she considers it advertising since it does include a product (it does show ice cream cones being shot out of what looks like a bazooka designed in outer space) and also murals are only allowed in the centre of the city.  Now Dairy Queen Canada wants it removed as well.  It is a really stupid situation.

Why am i making this appeal?  By and large, KW and Cambridge fall far short of what culturally vibrant cities should look like.  So much creativity is stifled.  Here's a funny example.  The City of Waterloo, as well as mostly prohibiting murals, has also banned residents from having small chicken coops in their back yards.  But in Portland, Oregon, a mid-sized city that is amazingly progressive, whether for its environmental policies or its promotion of culture, chickens are not only allowed, but there is an annual "Tour de Coops" for the public, promoted by a group of artists and architects to showcase a competition for the most fanciful and lovely chicken coop architecture.

IF YOU WANT TO SEE WHAT ENLIGHTENED CIVIC POLICIES  ENCOURAGING MURAL ART CAN DO FOR A CITY, open the attachment to see an amazing power point about murals in Winnipeg (there are examples from France as well).  When I look at what Winnipeg, a city not at all as economically well off as Waterloo, has done by promoting murals to beautify the city and encourage creative public art, and compare it to dull Waterloo,  where the best we can come up with for public art is a rusty bell, I almost cry.

Could you take a moment to email or call the mayor of Waterloo and appeal that the mural be saved, perhaps by simply exempting the mural from the sign bylaw?  The phone number is 747-8700.

In the name of art and ice cream alike,

Greg Michalenko
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