FeedsCouncil approves new mural proposal
By a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the Wayne City Council approved a revised mural plan proposed for the side of the State Wayne Theater.
Councilman Tom Kelly and Mayor Pro Tem Pam Dobrowolski voted against the plan.
The revised concept shows two full color center panels along with two full color flanking panels, according to Peter McInerney, community development director for the City of Wayne. It also shows a full upper band of images that refer to the transportation history of Wayne, even though the cost of that was not covered by the original $49,000 contract. The artists who proposed the mural added that portion at no extra cost.
“I knew we had the right type of guys for this,” said a beaming McInerney. “They’re good people.”
In a letter to the city, Joshua Winer and David Fichter, the two Massachusetts-based muralists selected for the project, said the upper band was necessary to make the overall composition work.
“Because the budget is fixed, there will be no additional charge for that, even though it does exceed the scope of our previous proposal for $49,000,” they wrote. “We offer this in the interest of having the best design possible with the available resources.”
The funding for the mural project was allocated in the 2005 DowntownDevelopment Authority (DDA) budget and held over in the 2006 DDA budget. It was originally designed to fund two smaller mural projects, one along Michigan Avenue and another on Wayne Road.
During a visit to Wayne last year, however, the muralists proposed the side of the State Wayne Theater for the mural, because it was ‘the best canvas in town.’ The concept they proposed for the side of the theater was larger than the two smaller murals combined, though, and they requested an additional $39,000 to fund the work.
McInerney was directed to ask for a scaled back version of the project that fit the original budget because of concerns from the city council that the work would distract from the upcoming road improvement millage campaign.
The version approved Tuesday leaves four open ‘panels’ on the side of the theater, two on either side of the center work. The upper band of images—which would be painted in shades of one color to resemble carved stone ornaments—would extend along the entire side.
“We believe that this mural will function as a ‘stand alone’ design,” the muralists said. “It can also be added to in the future (with the addition to be the missing four panels from our original design) to tell the longer history of Wayne.”
