Joe Cotroneo in front of a mural commemorating Italian immigrants on Preston Street’s underpass.
Joe Cotroneo is responsible for the paint-covered concrete on Preston Street’s Highway 417 underpass. However, this street art is of the legal variety.
"There’s a cultural story to it," he says, explaining the heritage mural representing Italian immigrants who settled in Ottawa’s Little Italy community.
"It kind of started indirectly," says Cotroneo, who owns Pub Italia and sits on the board of the Preston Street BIA. His restaurant features several murals and he thought it would be a good idea to expand the partnership, brightening up the neighbourhood and showcasing its culture.
"I always saw the bridge as kind of a dark spot," he says.
Mayor Jim Watson wants to follow Preston Street’s example.
In his "State of the City" address on Jan. 22, Watson said he hopes to see more murals painted along the "usually dark and dingy" underpasses.
"There are a number of underpasses and exits from the 417 that could benefit from the same streetscaping, more beautiful murals that brighten up our streets," he says.
"When the artwork reflects the identity of the community, (…) it brings a sense of belonging," says Karole Marois, who painted Little Italy’s mural in 2007. "People of the neighbourhood tend to adopt the artwork as their own and take care of it."
But highway underpasses are provincial property, notes Cotroneo. "It took about two years, but finally the province came on board, mainly because they saw the importance of the mural as a heritage project for Little Italy," he says. "That was the first time ever they allowed someone to use a provincial bridge to do something like that."
Watson says he has already received the go-ahead from Glen Murray, Ontario’s minister of transportation. "He agrees that the success on Preston Street should be repeated wherever possible," said Watson.
Watson called on BIAs, councillors, youth groups and local artists to develop the mural projects, which he says should be ready to implement this summer.
One group that could lend a hand is the Paint it Up! initiative. Run by Crime Prevention Ottawa, Paint it Up! is a community funding program that gives organizations grants to help youths at risk of being involved in graffiti channel their creativity into "positive public art projects" during the summer months.
"If there was an agency who was interested in working with neighbourhood youth and doing a mural, and where they wanted to do it was an underpass, I know that the committee would be happy to entertain such a proposal," said CPO executive director Nancy Worsfold.
"The applicant, when proposing a location for a mural, must demonstrate that that location has a graffiti problem," adds Worsfold. "The murals have been universally successful in reducing the graffiti on the walls where they are mounted."