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Greenburgh group seeks town support for street banners and QR-linked Black history exhibits
Summary
Leslie Davistown of the Greenburgh Black History Museum Initiative asked the Town Board for help placing a series of historical banners across town and a letter of support to state and utility agencies for permitting; the proposal includes QR codes and a nominating process and would use town-owned sites if DOT or utility approvals are denied.
Leslie Davistown, a representative of the Greenburgh Black History Museum Initiative, described a town-wide program to install banners and public art that celebrate Black residents and local history and asked the Town Board for help identifying town-owned poles and a letter of support for state permitting.
Davistown said the initiative has already produced small installations at town hall, the General Burns Center and the Greenburgh Public Library and has built partnerships with Westchester Community College, the arts and humanities committee and local elected offices. “This project establishes [a] QR code component, which will allow every site to serve as a gateway to a broader digital museum experience,” she said, describing the QR code as a way for residents and visitors to access expanded historical content.
Board members and staff raised jurisdictional and installation questions. Several of the banner sites Davistown proposed fall on state-owned corridors or MTA property, and staff warned that many utility poles are owned by Con Edison or Verizon and will require owner permission. A town staffer offered to begin outreach to the state Department of Transportation’s regional permit engineer and requested board support for staff to pursue DOT approvals.
Davistown asked the board to consider installing two banners on town property at town hall as an interim option if DOT or utility owners decline. She clarified that there is no fee to be inducted into the museum project and that the Greenburgh Black History Museum Initiative will cover banner production: “There’s no cost to be inducted into the museum,” she said.
On logistics, the board discussed banner height, single-sided printing, QR-code legibility and alternatives such as placing a short URL beneath the image. The initiative offered to supply hardware and banners but asked the town’s Department of Public Works to coordinate installation and a utility mark-out before any pole-mounted work.
Next steps agreed by the board: staff will pursue written confirmation from DOT/utility owners, schedule a site visit with the initiative and DPW to mark poles and confirm measurements, and provide a letter of support for permitting requests where appropriate. Davistown said the group would like to have a town-hall installation in place before Juneteenth if approvals and logistics allow.
The board did not take a final vote tonight; members directed staff to begin DOT and utility outreach and to set a staff/committee site visit to confirm specific locations and mounting hardware.
