The Detroit City Council voted down a more than $200,000 contract for murals that were not authorized by the council on several privately owned buildings.
On Wednesday, the council voted 8-1 against the $215,000 payment to Street Art Mankind Corp., a New York City-based nonprofit that used street artists to paint six murals on buildings ahead of the NFL Draft.
According to our partners at Outlier Media, none of the artists are from Detroit, or from the United States.
The Street Art Mankind Corp. website said the murals are part of the "Be The Change" art walk and are inspired by the United Nations Sustainable Development goals.
The council said that the contract for the murals was put through without approval from the council. The city's director of Planning and Development, Antoine Bryant, said that the organization began work without approval and then continued after being told not to.
During the meeting on Tuesday, council members asked Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett what would happen if the city did not follow through on the contract for work that has already been rendered.
Mallett said that payment could not be made without the council's approval and that if they don't approve the contract, there would likely be a lawsuit filed against the city, and ultimately, he believes the city would be ordered by a judge to make some kind of settlement.
Ultimately, Mallet recommended the contract be approved because, "from a purely legal standpoint, at the end of the day, my own view is the City of Detroit will be held responsible."
There were also questions about the maintenance of the murals. Bryant said that they should have a several-year life, and that it's on the owners of the buildings to maintain them.
You can learn more from our partners at Outlier Media and the Detroit Documenters, who were documenting the City Council meeting.
The murals are located on buildings at:
- 1020 Washington Blvd.
- Grand River & W. Elizabeth
- 2115 Cass Ave.
- 2310 Cass Ave.
- Cass Ave. and Clifford
- Cass Ave. and Sproat
