Town of Carrboro Pushes for 'Black Lives Matter' Mural, Location Pending

After local artists and volunteers in Washington, D.C., painted “Black Lives Matter” in massive yellow letters on a street leading to the White House on June 5, many cities across the country have followed suit – and may soon include the Town of Carrboro.

At the Carrboro Town Council’s final virtual meeting before a summer break, a group presented possible ways to paint a “Black Lives Matter” mural on public or town property.

Carrboro Mayor Lyida Lavelle said while 100 percent of the council expressed support for this project, there were still going to be some hoops to jump through before the project could come to fruition.

“There’s some challenges with doing it on streets that automobiles ride one,” Lavelle said. “You can kind of do it temporarily for a while but then it has to go away. If you want to do it with any kind of permanence on a street that we control, we often have crosswalks, bike lanes and other markings there. So there are some challenges to doing it even though we all want to figure out a way to have it done.”

Lavelle said placement would be ideal if the mural was done on a closed-in street where only people walk. This is why Carrboro’s Town Commons parking lot is being looked at as a potential location.

“We certainly have lots and lots of traffic at our Town Commons with all of our festivals, with our farmers markets and with our different kinds of musical events with have there,” Lavelle said.

While Lavelle said council members are enthusiastic about designating the Town Commons parking lot as the chosen mural spot, they are investigating other locations.

West Weaver Street, between North Greensboro Street and West Main Street, is also under consideration – although using public streets will require more clearance.

As Lavelle mentioned, an issue that arises when putting a large mural on a public street is that the painting may obscure roadway markings or interfere with clearly marked crosswalks and bike lanes.

In this scenario, where public streets like West Weaver Street are used, the town would have to get approval from the state’s Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration. This would most likely require the mural to serve as a temporary or closed off art exhibit instead of remaining permanent on town property.

To watch Carrboro’s latest town council meeting, click here.

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Town of Carrboro Pushes for ‘Black Lives Matter’ Mural, Location Pending

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