A 'Highly Regulated' Way To Help Elmhurst

Elmhurst IL

18 August, 2021

9:56 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst Alderman Mark Mulliner on Monday rejected a program allowing murals in downtown and elsewhere. He pointed to the city's experience in the 1960s. His colleagues disagreed. By a 12-1 vote, the City Council approved an oversight process for murals, which advocates said would improve Elmhurst's appearance and thus attract more visitors. Alderwoman Marti Deuter said Elmhurst University and the Spring Road Business Association expressed an interest in murals after the city's Public Arts Commission formed in 2018. She said the city code does now allow murals. Local officials, she said, reviewed what other communities do. Some allow murals with few, if any, regulations, while others have an oversight procedure. "Elmhurst's falls on the more highly regulated side and gives as much oversight as practical," she said. "Public art, including murals, helps Elmhurst offer residents and visitors unique and engaging experiences." Alderman Bob Dunn asked how the city would handle "objectionable" murals. Deuter responded that the city could do little because the First Amendment protects expression. The new regulations, however, bar businesses from using murals as advertising. Mulliner spoke up to oppose the mural proposal. He doubted murals would draw in more people to downtown and expressed concern that owners would fail to maintain them over time. "I'm concerned that this is going to become the Elmhurst that I recall in the 1960s, which had murals on almost every building," he said. "The murals that were on the buildings at that time were advertisements. They were on almost every building because that's the way they advertised. I understand that this is not an attempt to do advertising, but I can see a very slippery slope, so I cannot support the concept of putting murals on any buildings at this point." Mulliner was the lone dissenter. Alderman Brian Cahill was absent.