Neighbors Rush To Clean Up Crown Heights Mural Covered By Ads

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Martha Elliot went to the window in her Washington Avenue apartment one February morning excited to take in the colorful murals that she had watched go up across the street earlier that week.

But as she pulled back the curtains, her jaw dropped. There, on her favorite of the murals, were five posters covering the face of a portrait of a Black woman.

"I was so angry," Elliot told Patch by email. "How could they do that to my beautiful new view!"

Neighbors, many who saw a post Elliot put on a local Facebook group, quickly joined in her dismay that a local business, Park Deli, would cover up the art, particularly during Black History Month.

Among them was the artist, Vincent Ballentine, who had returned from a trip out of town on Feb. 18 to the news that his painting was covered.

"I'm usually a chill person. But @parkdelibk just sparked a major problem," he posted on Instagram. "I don't know if this is racism, claiming your spot, or just dumb."

The posters were the second time Park Deli had put up ads on the wall, which had been cleared for painting by the nonprofit that oversees the mural spot, Underhill Walls, according to Ballentine. The most recent posters, on top of the mural, came after artists buffed over the original posters to allow Ballentine to paint.

The shop — who have sold skateboards, flowers and dry goods on Classon Avenue since 2009 — have since apologized for posting over the mural, but not before neighbors stepped in to clean up the artwork.

Elliot and her 14-year-old daughter, Bella, were among the makeshift clean-up crew, who peeled the posters off the painting in the days after they were put up.

"I think it took a couple hours, and it was freezing, but we did it," she said.

Park Deli, on top of a public apology on Instagram, said they apologized directly to Ballentine and also offered to pay for his supplies for the painting.

"It was a poor decision to cover over a painting of a Black Woman's face not just during Black History Month but at any point in time," Park Deli wrote on Instagram. "Park Deli has always been and will always be an anti-racist establishment."

Ballentine, who touched up the mural after the posters were taken down, told Patch he is "moving on" from the situation and didn't have more to add. He'll start painting next week at the Louis Armstrong Houses with a group of youth in a project organized by Groundswell.

As for the neighbors, Elliot said she hopes Park Deli will learn a lesson from the ordeal.

"I hope they have learned from their mistake and that their feelings of entitlement have been checked a bit," she told Patch. "I do think this incident will hurt their business, and that the artist got more exposure because of it, so if you believe in karma, justice will be done."