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Painted Pillars Brightening Up Mott Haven Bridge

By Eddie Small | July 28, 2014 8:49am
 Four pillars by Lincoln Avenue and 135th Street have been painted with a variety of designs.
Painted Bronx Pillars
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MOTT HAVEN — Four pillars at the Lincoln Avenue underpass have been decked out in a variety of colors and designs in an attempt to help beautify and improve the neighborhood.

Two of the pillars at 135th Street are covered in bright, multicolored arrangements, while the other two contain more concrete images: one of trees with leaves of dollar bills falling to the ground, and the other of the word “Bronx” written in overlapping white and blue capital letters.

The project was mainly funded by the Citizens Committee For New York City and organized by the Mott Haven Merchants, a group of local businesses.

Business leader Michael Brady said he hopes artwork like this helps make the neighborhood a safer place.

"If you give people something to look at and something to see, hopefully that deters crime," he said. "And also, everyone deserves something pretty to look at."

Eva Diaz, co-owner of the Puerto Rican and Dominican restaurant Calientito, which is right across from the pillars, said she enjoys being able to look out of her business and see artwork.

"It's no longer dark or bland," she said. "It has color. It has life to it."

Diaz, whose father is an artist, described herself as a passionate supporter of the arts.

"Seeing a constant absence of it for me is unacceptable," she said.

Local artist Fred Ones painted the pillar that reads "Bronx" in all capitals and hopes to add more to the other sides of the structure. He would like one side to have a hip-hop totem pole featuring artists like DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash and another to feature local businesses like Calientito and the Bruckner Bar and Grill.

"The Bronx is missing that, and I've always wanted to bring that flavor to the Bronx," he said.

The pillars were painted as part of South Bronx Ignites, a June 14 block party for Mott Haven put on by SoBRO, Dancing in the Streets, the Universal Hip Hop Museum and the Mott Haven Merchants.

Mott Haven resident Raymond Colon, 47, said he loved what they did with the pillars by the Lincoln Avenue underpass and wanted to see similar projects done throughout the borough. He was a particularly big fan of the pillar reading "Bronx."

"That's where we're living at," he said. "That's what it represents: The Bronx."

Local artist Daniel Colon painted one of the multicolored pillars and worked the phrase "SoBro" into his design, which he meant to serve as a way for people to show off how much they cared about their neighborhood.

"I feel like there’s a lot of community pride here, and specifically on this little corner of the South Bronx, so it’s really just sort of a shout out to represent that," he said.

Brady hopes to see art projects like the pillars eventually lead to a cultural map of Mott Haven that could direct people to the neighborhood's artistic attractions.

"For so long, Mott Haven has had this sort of underground artist culture, which is great," he said. "Now, we really want to invest in our artists and really show them off because they’re amazingly talented individuals."