Morse Mural

The Rogers Park Bench reports that a graduate journalism student from Northwestern is doing a piece about the mural being put up at the Morse El by artists from outside the community, who apparently got the assignment through DevCorp North. There's been some noise about how this came about, along with pushback by locals satisfied that the best folks are putting up the mural. Maybe they are, although no one seems to know how they got the contract to do that without any apparent competition.

It's even more interesting when you check out the Commercial Corridor Plan, which states plain as day on page 20:

,Create a more cohesive arts district along Glenwood Avenue, including Morse Avenue at the el station, building on and continuing to support the successful Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival and the new separate Open Studio walk. Specific examples include joint marketing by arts and entertainment-oriented businesses, hosting, coordinating and/or sponsoring workshops that support artists, banners and other signage announcing the Arts District, new murals and other street art in and around the area, coordinated gallery openings and development of a strong connection between existing arts-related enterprises in the district to foster collaboration.

And it gets even more interesting on page 26:

b. Utilize the CTA’s art program for art installations in the new Howard Street El station and the Morse Avenue El Station

c. Identify opportunities in all districts for local art, such as murals, painted street furniture, and sculptures. Work should be done by local artists as much as possible

Perhaps the CTA is behind the mural, which lets Dev Corp off the hook. This time. Anyone have any better insights?