Broad Street Gets Beautiful Ahead Of DNC
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It's not enough to paint the town red. The Democratic National Convention Host Committee is planning a rainbow, right down the middle of South Broad Street.
The design will be painted on ground cloth that will cover the median from City Hall to Broad Street and Washington Avenue. Mural Arts director Jane Golden will oversee installation.
This work is timely, it's optimistic and the embrace of openness and change comes at a time when in our society there are too many divisions, and boundaries and borders and anger," Golden said. "The enormous of color combinations, which create pattern, rhythm, beauty, represent the vast experiences possible in a city that embraces its own diversity."
The mural is just one part of a beautification project on the street that convention visitors will traverse most. There's also a special light display that will light the south side of City Hall red, white and blue, and new gardens going on North Broad Street. Fifty-two planters will be installed by Roots to Re-Entry, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society program that helps people transitioning from the prison system back into communities.
Council president Darrell Clarke says his favorite part is that many Philadelphians, including returning offenders, will work on them.
"Having individuals feel a part of this is probably one of the most significant things," Clarke said.
The gardens will be permanent. The median and lights will stay up for eight weeks.