Jane Golden: I see graffiti coming back to some parts of the city

Jane Golden, the executive director of the city of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, says graffiti is again becoming a problem in some parts of the city.

Golden was the keynote speaker at last night’s Chestnut Hill Community Association’s annual dinner meeting.

She told the crowd of 200 people that graffiti comes and goes in cycles. “If you take the train line in you will see an abundance of graffiti in certain areas, she said.

“I see enough of the same names, over and over again, to know there are leaders out there and we need to bring them into the fold to try to do something beautiful there,” Golden added.

She warned that the longer graffiti stays up the more the kids think it’s OK. “That’s why we say to people, if someone writes on our murals…it’s 24 to 48 hours (for) our response time to take it off,” she said.

After her address, Golden along with Caroline Estey King, who is handling some of the fundraising efforts, gave NewsWorks an update on the Mural Arts Program’s Chestnut Hill project. They said that they have about $11,000 so far.

“We need another $20,000 at least to do what we really want to do, which is a classical mural. I mean you’re not going to put a cake on the side of Bredenbecks,” said King.

Previously, Golden has said, that if all goes well the mural that will go on the side of Bredenbecks Bakery, 8126 Germantown Ave, could be dedicated by spring 2012.

NewsWorks will have a separate story and photos on the Chestnut Hill Community Association’s dinner meeting later in the day.