A CITY has removed its Black Lives Matter mural, citing traffic concerns, after a resident asked for a MAGA2020 mural to be painted on the same road.
Redwood City in San Francisco's Bay Area granted permission to resident Dan Pease to paint a BLM mural as part of a Fourth of July public art celebration, according to local CBS affiliate KPIX.
The city even reportedly supplied him with the paint to make the mural.
But Pease's work was washed away after another resident asked if she could paint a pro-Donald Trump mural on the same street.
Maria Rutenburg contacted the city to ask for permission to add her own art, according to KPIX, if the street was now a public forum.
"I saw Black Lives Matter sign appearing on Broadway Street on the asphalt and I figured that’s gonna be a new public space, open for discussion, and I wanted to get my message out, too," Rutenburg told the station.
Instead of granting Rutenburg permission, the city decided to remove Pease's mural as well. The reason, city council said, was that it was a traffic hazard.
The BLM mural was removed in the middle of the night.
Pease told KPIX that he's disappointed his work was removed, but he also understands why.
"I have no hard feelings to the city council,” he said.
“I am disappointed but, at the same time, I am very grateful that they allowed me to put that message on Broadway.”
Cities across the US have allowed residents to create artwork supporting the Black Lives Matter movement as the country deals with nationwide unrest, and calls for racial equality and police reform sparked by the killing of George Floyd and other black Americans.
The mural in Redwood City is not the first to cause trouble.
A Black Lives Matter mural commissioned by Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York City prompted plenty of backlash.
The mural, which was painted on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower, has been defaced with paint on three separate occasions in the past week.
One of the vandals, Bevelyn Beatty, reportedly recorded herself defacing two other BLM murals in the city as well.
As she threw paint on the Fifth Avenue display on Saturday, she denounced the movement.
"They say they care about black lives, they’re saying to defund the police,” she said. “Refund the police!"
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser also allowed a BLM display to be painted on a road near the White House, but that was also defaced with the message, "Defund the Police."
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