Crystal Watson, who lives in a shelter and works on the Tenderloin Community Benefit District’s city-funded Clean Team, is no stranger to the Groundhog Day feeling of leaving a sparkling street one day only to return the next to find it filthy.
When she’s working, she rolls her garbage bin, to which she has added incense to shield her from the foul stenches she encounters picking up feces, cigarette butts, and other trash. But on Friday, instead of the trash bin, she wielded a paintbrush.
Reaching her roller brush up the side of a building on Willow Street, she blanketed a tag in fresh yellow paint. To Watson, it’s important to do this work even with the looming threat that in a few days, the area might be covered in tags again. It’s about making the space beautiful for community members. An artist, Watson thinks people should be able to paint.
“Make it a mural. Make it an event, so it’s not just that ‘I’m juiced, I’m gonna go put my tags up,’ she said. “There are a lot of artists out here. I’m all for it. It just needs a designated location.”
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