The front of our church, on Guadalupe Street, is our face to the city and the world. It looks so much better now that the brick pavement is done, and the fences are gone.
Several of you have commented to me that the trees are truly wonderful, BUT that they are planted too close to the church. I agree with you. However, the placement of the trees was not chosen by us but rather dictated by the City of Austin. They are planted where we were required to plant them.
We did achieve one victory though, in that the originally required city scape from the street department did not match the requirements of the city department planning for the eventual construction of the rail line down Guadalupe Street. We urged them to agree on a plan so that we would not later have to tear up and redo the streetscape. Hopefully our front will not change even when (or dare I say “if”) Project Connect happens in front of our church.
Also, you have no doubt noticed that our church front has been defaced by graffiti. This is a sad fact of urban life. Fortunately, most graffiti “artists” have respected our church front. But apparently there are a few graffiti makers who just don’t care.
In any case it is important that the graffiti be removed quickly to discourage more graffiti. But the nature of the stone on the church, and the metallic dimensional covering of the front doors, have made the removal extremely difficult. Our maintenance team (i.e. Frank) have tried several solutions, but all to no avail.
We have decided to call in a professional graffiti removal service, but not surprisingly they are all very busy in Austin. I was hoping to have a quote from a graffiti removal service by the time I write this article, but it is difficult to get a response as they are so overwhelmed.
On the new construction we opted for a material that is very graffiti resistant, called “Porcelanosa”. It has already been massively “tagged”, and fortunately it cleaned off very well, as expected.
Anyway, our church front is looking much better, and we need to continue to let the University and the City of Austin know that we are here, in business, and an active community of Faith.
God bless!
Fr. Chuck