Pro-Palestine mural gets St. John's senior in hot water with city heritage bylaws
CBC
A St. John's senior has run into trouble with city bylaws after two complaints about a pro-Palestinian mural on her property.
Marilyn Porter, an 82-year-old retired Memorial University sociologist, said some young pro-Palestine activists asked if they could paint a mural on the retaining wall bordering her property. Porter, who has been critical of Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank for years, said she wouldn't stop them.
"I want to support any efforts to support the people who are suffering in Gaza, on the West Bank and to improve the Canadian government's response to this," Porter said in an interview with CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.
As originally reported by online publication The Independent last week, Porter received a letter from a city building inspector, informing her that she needed a permit for the sign.
The letter said if she didn't get a permit and refused to take down the sign she could be fined up to $5,000.
"You've got to have deep pockets to take on the city in these kinds of cases," Porter said.
The sign says "arms embargo now" in large block letters, a reference to a website calling on the Canadian government to suspend arms and military trade with Israel.
Porter said her retaining wall, which faces a public sidewalk, has been vandalized before, but the city has never previously asked her to remove any graffiti.
"There's graffiti all over St. John's, as you know, a lot of graffiti. None of it is as elegant or meaningful as the graffiti on my wall," she said.
In a statement, St. John's spokesperson Jackie O'Brien said the city considers the mural to be signage, rather than graffiti. Since Porter lives in a heritage area, signage on her property requires a permit and approval from the built heritage committee.
"The City of St. John's was made aware of the violation due to two complaints which directly referenced that the property was violating city bylaws pertaining to signage. No political motivation for their removal was referenced," said O'Brien.
Porter has now submitted a permit application, and the city is allowing the mural to remain in place while that application is processed.
"This kind of thing moves slowly. So we'll just keep it going. And meanwhile, that sign can stay up there until the city comes along with the bulldozer," she said.
The city's built heritage committee is scheduled to meet on Nov. 27.
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