The Washington neighborhood will soon receive a makeover—one with an emphasis on safety and youth as part of its Community Corners project.
After a year of community input, the Arts Council for Long Beach is looking for a local artist to paint four original murals on the intersection of 15th Street and Chestnut Avenue. The Community Corners project will not only bring bright new life to the Washington neighborhood, but will expand pedestrian use by removing illegal parking spaces and extending the crosswalk.
“This is one of the first times there’s like, over a year of community engagement, trying to get community input on this project and these types of projects,” said Cynthia Luján, director of public art for the Arts Council. “And hopefully setting more of a precedent for projects that happen in the city.”
The Arts Council will choose 10 semi-finalists from the 47 local artist submissions by March 1. The community will be able to vote on their favorite artworks through in-person and virtual meetings starting on March 15 to decide how the intersection will be transformed.
This marks the fourth time that the Arts Council has invited residents to vote on which art they want to see in their surroundings. Luján said though the process is more time-consuming, the council hopes to involve the community on more projects in the future.
“I think we really wanted to center on youth, especially because the crosswalk is right where the Long Beach Day Nursery is, so just wanting to have something exciting and fun for kids who use the intersection everyday to look at on the way to or from school.”
Cynthia Luján, director of public art for the Arts Council of Long Beach
“I think that a lot of Long Beach community members are very vocal that they want more input and I want to listen to that, even if it takes a little more time and effort, I think it’s really important,” Luján said.
Community Corners is the first floor mural that the Arts Council has conducted, and a continuation of its focus on beautifying the Washington neighborhood. The project includes plans for roughly 16 plastic bullards which will “expand pedestrian space, substantially reduce crossing length, and will alert drivers of the intersection’s four-way stop,” according to the Arts Council website.
Luján said that the mural could have gone anywhere in the public space, but the council wanted to respond to resident’s concerns about the safety of the intersection. Last year, a babysitter was walking two children to school and got struck by a speeding driver. There have been multiple incidents of residents being hit by cars at or near the same intersection.
“We just want to amplify the community’s concerns and be able to hopefully make the streets safer,” Luján said.
The intersection of 15th Street and Chestnut Avenue are used by many students from Washington Middle School while walking to and from school. The theme for the murals are meant to align with the theme “Fearless Love, Fearless Dreams,” which is an homage to the youth in the neighborhood.
The project is in partnership with Habitat LA, who has partnered with the council in the “Together We Make Change” initiative since 2016, which has resulted in two community murals and multiple utility box artworks across the Washington neighborhood.
The council received $65,000 in grant funds from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the JAG Foundation and the Southern California Association of Government’s GoHuman mini-grants. Long Beach is one of 26 cities across the country who received funds for Community Corners.
Community surveys were conducted from nearly 250 residents over the course of five months in 2022. Many residents who were surveyed had children attending either Washington Middle School or the Long Beach Day Nursery, which was a key component in the proposed theme for the street mural.
“I think we really wanted to center on youth, especially because the crosswalk is right where the Long Beach Day Nursery is,” Luján said. “So just wanting to have something exciting and fun for kids who use the intersection everyday to look at on the way to or from school.”
Most drivers were also recorded driving over the speed limit for the intersection, which is 25 miles per hour. According to Luján, the intersection also regularly has issues of illegal parking, which the bullards would also prevent.
The finalists will be announced in early April and the floor murals are expected to be installed later in the month. There will be a community celebration hosted by the Arts Council and the city in May.
