The Aurora Bridge Mural – A Fresh Coat of Paint

A Fremont Resident Touching Up the Mural
When we last talked about the Aurora Bridge Mural (in Fremont) it was on a bit of a sour note. That was six months ago and the mural was accumulating lots of graffiti in the form of “tagging”. Well, some folks in the neighborhood are taking matters and paint brushes into their own hands and giving the mural a fresh coat. Thank you neighbors!

The 1982 Atlantic article Broken Windows: The police and neighborhood safety introduced the broken windows theory which put forward the idea that monitoring and maintaining an urban environment may prevent further vandalism and serious crime in that environment. From the article: “Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.” The theory has its defenders and detractors, but you can’t deny that a maintained environment certainly has a positive impact to those living there. In this case, seeing tagging on the Aurora Bridge Mural is ugly and depressing.

Before (left) / New Painting in Progress (right)


West End of the Aurora Bridge Mural

Before (left) / New Painting in Progress (right)

Before (left) / New Painting in Progress (right)

Organizing Volunteers

Waiting for the Bus at the Aurora Bridge Mural