The colorful mural on a street corner in Flower Hill is still visible, but how long it will stay depends upon the weather. Once temperatures warm up, it will be painted over.
The mural was spray-painted on the outside walls of 1067 Northern Blvd., which houses Joanne’s Gourmet Pizza and a combination Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, by Long Island artist Spencer Stown with the approval of building owner and Joanne’s Pizza operator Rino DiMaria.
Not long after the mural went up in January, the village said it received complaints from residents, and gave DiMaria summonses for failing to maintain exterior surfaces of the building and “keeping up with the standards of the community,” and for display of a sign upon the building without application. That was due to Stown adding the slogan “America Runs on Dunkin” to the mural; later he painted over the phrase.
Mayor Brian Herrington addressed the issue at a meeting of the village’s Board of Trustees on Monday.
“I know several trustees as well as Village Hall received calls, emails and complaints about the change in the exterior,” Herrington said. “Our code clearly has processes in place for how projects like these are to be handled. Some of those go through architectural review, some of those approvals go through the Board of Trustees, but it’s pretty clear that there’s a process in place.”
Herrington also said that DiMaria, whom he did not name directly, had been given the choice of following a process in which he could apply to have the work remain and “go through the proper procedures to apply for that and get public feedback” or to remove the work, choosing the latter option.
“The building’s owner then informed the village that he would have it covered up with paint,” Herrington said. “However, due to the temperatures in the weather forecast, it was undetermined as to when that would happen.”
Deputy Mayor Randall Rosenbaum noted that the temperature would have to go up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and stay there or above for at least four hours, with the wall having to reach a certain temperature as well, before painting could take place.
“I’m hoping that we get a couple of nice sunny days and once we’re over 40 degrees, he can have his contractor come in and repaint the building,” Rosenbaum said.
DiMaria said in a phone interview that he had emailed the details to the village and was cooperating with village officials.
“We have the paint and we’re going to do it once the temperature is right,” he said.
Village Administrator Ronnie Shatzkamer said via email that 14 complaints had been called into the village office in the week that the mural went up, with the trustees receiving an additional seven calls. A Freedom of Information Law request fulfilled by the village shows that at least three complaint emails were sent that week regarding the mural.
“I know this staff and this village board have been very keen on trying to beautify the village and we look forward to working with this business owner and anybody else with community input on how to improve the village,” Herrington said.
