JAMAICA — Vermont’s Agency of Transportation has issued a new policy allowing street art to remain in public spaces within certain safety and decency parameters.
The decision came last week after the agency washed away Black Lives Matter messaging written with chalk on a bridge in this Windham County town earlier this month.
Until now, all street art has been removed to discourage pedestrians from entering roadways in an unsafe manner and to maintain cleanliness of public property.
But the incident in Jamaica caused the agency to rethink its policy, and it now calls for its workers to analyze the content of the street art before taking steps to erase it.
“Previously, we didn’t really scrutinize whatever subject matter there was,” said Joe Flynn, secretary of VTrans. “Any time we saw graffiti, or street art, personal markings — call it what you will — we removed it. It is public infrastructure. Sometimes people venture into places, highways, which put them in an unsafe condition in order to place things like this. The thought at that time is that that should be discouraged.”
On June 13, two individuals used chalk to write the names of Black people who have died at the hands of police brutality, as well as the message “Black Lives Matter,” onto the side of Memorial Bridge on Route 30 in Jamaica.
After receiving a complaint, Deputy Greg Keilig from the Windham County Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene. Keilig told the individuals they could not write on the bridge, and asked them to return to the sidewalk, where they could continue their project. According to Sheriff Mark Anderson, Keilig was concerned about the individuals’ safety.
Anderson added Keilig should not have asked the individuals to stop their activity.
“We don’t prohibit free speech,” Anderson said. “Chalk is not vandalism. So he was provided corrective training on that, and we followed up with the two people involved to let them know that that was incorrect.”
Though not called by the Sheriff’s Department, VTrans later arrived to efface the writing. Flynn said VTrans workers were following guidelines that were in place preceding the policy change.
When the individuals who wrote on the bridge called VTrans Public Outreach Coordinator Amy Tatko to ask why the message was taken down, Tatko reached out to the governor’s office, and together they reached a decision that the message, and others like it, should remain in place.
“I was asked about it,” Flynn said, “and my first inkling was, our guidelines are clear. We are not trying to editorialize. We were just trying to be consistent. But that afternoon, upon more reflection and conversation about that, it seemed that many people might think we were trying to stifle a conversation that’s very important to be having today. So we decided that we would exercise discretion and that voices needed to be heard.”
In an email to more than 500 of VTrans’ district maintenance workers on Friday, Wayne Symonds, VTrans Highway Division director, requested that workers “evaluate the content and situation of any mural or sign in the highway right of way before deciding to remove or paint over them.”
Street art that could “negatively affect roadway safety,” and any message or drawing that is “profane, grotesque, advocates illegal activity or violence” should be removed, but that everything else “should be allowed to remain.”
“When I talked with the person in Jamaica, he told me that his group has already written the message in chalk again,” Tatko wrote in an email to VTrans officials. “I assured him that it would remain in place this time.”
Recently, a message that read “White Lives Matter More” was written on a building on River Street in Rutland. A resident has since painted over the writing.
When asked how VTrans’ new policy would apply to messages like this, Flynn said the agency would implement the guidelines on a case-by-case basis.
“These are very difficult conversations,” he said, adding that profane messages, or those that could compromise public safety, will be taken down.
“If it starts to get into the area of rights to the First Amendment, and what one person feels is appropriate versus another, we’re really going to have to look at that on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “But the current topic, racial justice, is very important. And we feel strongly that, for now, we’re going to look at it this way.”
At a Jamaica selectboard meeting Monday night, the board agreed it would not take a collective position on the street art after the new policy deemed it legal. Still, board members and members of the public engaged in a heated discussion about whether the message should stay.
Jamaica resident and former selectboard member Joel Bluming requested the topic be added to the meeting’s agenda and mentioned he was happy to see the message back on the bridge.
While most other board members agreed, selectman Paul Fraser objected, citing concerns that the message thwarts efforts to beautify Jamaica.
“We’ve got people in this town who spend a lot of time and energy trying to beautify the town, and trying to keep it looking like a small Vermont town,” he said, later adding: “This, I think, offended a lot of those people.”
Michael Zimmer, a member of the public who had a Black Lives Matter flag behind him in the frame, countered Fraser’s point.
“It’s good that it offends a lot of people,” he said. “Systemic racism is what that message is about, and it hurts everybody. Until it’s affecting every single person, nothing is going to change.”
