Residents say Mount Vernon City mural program helped abate graffiti and boost neighborhood pride

Resident (S1) said John and Adam "came along and, presented this program to us about painting, murals for graffiti abatement," and invited neighbors to help paint an initial plywood mural.

A second resident, identified in the transcript as Resident (S2), said the project grew: "now we've done about 5 of them and I designed a couple of them which is really fun." That speaker also emphasized police participation, calling the department's involvement "wonderful" and saying they had "never known of any of them doing something like this," adding that the partnership could help improve relationships between police and the community.

Resident (S3) described concrete neighborhood effects: "Now when I walk down the block now, the street is nice. There is people outside. There are kids playing. There is there are people, observing the speed limit and and taking that turn nicely." The speaker said the murals give neighbors a clear sense of who made the work and why, and that the project has produced local pride.

The transcript does not specify a date for the meeting. Participants described the program as grassroots: neighbors painted on plywood panels originally supplied by organizers (named in the transcript as John and Adam) and then scaled up to additional murals. Speakers emphasized informal outcomes — cleaner appearance, more outdoor presence and what they described as improved interactions with law enforcement — but offered no formal metrics, no budget figures, and no record of official municipal action in the provided text.

No motions or votes were recorded in the transcript provided. Residents characterized the murals as a community-driven graffiti-abatement approach that has so far produced about five murals (the speaker who gave the count said "about 5 of them").