Reader Comment du Jour: A Modest Proposal

Some of you might recall that I featured this piece of wheatpaste work (which hails from the Pulaski Bridge across the street from 400 McGuinness) a few days ago. Well, my blog post came to the attention of the woman responsible and she left a comment. Here it is:

You can read the statement about Jesus’s picture here:
http://www.insideoutproject.net/#/sp/2tCTEG

When you upload your photo you write a description and give its location. And yes, the idea was to declare the fact that people live here, this is not an anonymous point on the map! I like the idea of posting images of our homeless people… Thank you for posting missheather!

This missive— or more accurately the person who posted it— jogged my memory: I remembered that she has contacted me some time ago with an idea she had. Regrettably, it had fallen between the cracks so yesterday I endeavored to catch up with her. What followed was a very interesting dialogue. One, I will add, which resulted in (what yours truly believes to be) a very good idea*— but more about that in a few. First, let’s take the statement about Jesus alluded to in this woman’s comment.  It reads as follows:

Greenpoint sits on the northern tip of Brooklyn and for years has fought attempts to overload this little neighborhood with the services that should really be shared by all New York City neighborhoods (incinerators, waste transfer stations, intake centers). We are home to an enormous sewage treatment center which, in many opinions, including mine, is a marvel of engineering and design! When city government looks our way to host these services, I hope they see the faces of our neighborhood.

Now I would like you, gentle readers, to (re)consider the placement of Jesus. Yes, what this woman is alluding to is our proposed assessment center. It was her thinking that by placing Jesus, a Greenpoint resident, across the street from a facility which is very much opposed by this community she would be in some small way putting a human face on the community which will be impacted by it. I found this to be rather brilliant. So much so, that it got me to thinking— and emailing. Here’s what she and I propose (NOTE: this is still very much in the working stages):

Since this project, InsideOut, is about community awareness/building and given that the man ultimately responsible for this proposed shelter has not seen fit to face the very public he will be saddling with a rotating door of 200 homeless men, perhaps we as a community should use this project to make our presence known? Simply put, we want to get as many Greenpointers as we can to participate and hang posters facing this facility. Since one of the dictates of this project is that these posters must be placed on properties with the owner’s permission, I have reached out to the guys at McGuinness Brake Service (which is located across the street and faces 400 McGuinness Boulevard). As of the writing of this post they seem to be very amenable to the idea. Best of all, it would appear that we can do this as a “group action” per InsideOut’s web site.

Thoughts/ideas, fellow Greenpointers?

Miss Heather

*Especially if we can get our elected officials involved.