Helping Paint the Pavement
This last Sunday was another hot and sunny day and it was hard to believe that so many people were out painting the streets in the Goss Grove neighborhood. That asphalt gets hot!
This past weekend marked one of the latest street liberation events hosted with the support of Boulder Green Streets. “We are calling these small neighborhood events NGS’s, or Neighborhood Green Streets events” says Brian Crawford, one of the members of Boulder Green Streets volunteer team.
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Boulder Green Streets (BGS) has been quietly piloting a number of Neighborhood Green Street events this summer with the goal of launching a full scale program in 2012. “We’ve been excited this summer to see how many neighborhoods have been interested in the program and to see how many groups have asked for help deepening sustainability in their neighborhoods” says Griffith, Executive Director at Boulder Green Streets.
“These events go beyond the block party” she says, “these events help neighborhoods address a myriad of sustainability issues. We help them not only find funding and community partners, but also work with community members to help them understand the permiting process. If they need insurance, barricades, or other support we can give it to them. Neighborhoods get things done faster, easier and often more cheaply than they might on their own if they work with BGS”.
This weekend, Boulder Green Streets helped its sixth neighborhood of the 2011 season host a Green Streets program. More exciting still was that Boulder Green Streets worked with the neighborhood and GoBoulder to help the Goss Grove neighborhood do a “Paint the Pavement” program. Check out the Daily Camera story about the painting and NGS event here.
Griffith believes the “Paint the Pavement” program is a wonderful starting point for neighborhoods to “develop a visual monument that reminds neighbors what you are about, or what you stand for as a group. This is a powerful move” she says. The process of determining what image defines you Griffith believes helps deepen and strengthen neighborhood relationships, community and help define neighborhood subculture.” Boulder Green Streets plans to host many more Neighborhood Green Street events in 2012 and hopes to work closely with neighbors, artists and GoBoulder staff to encourage more Paint the Pavement programs throughout the Boulder area. Stay tuned for announcements and details in the early part of 2012.
