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Barrio Wall Contest

Barrio is a new restaurant opening in Downtown Columbus. The restaurant is looking for an artist or group of artists to design and paint a mural for its vacant wall. Barrio is located at 185 N. High Street on the Northwest corner of Spring and High. The vacant wall is extremely visible from High Street. It stands approx. 112’ wide and 56’ high on the South side of the building facing Elevator Brewery. The competition is open to all artists that reside in Columbus, Ohio. Barrio will provide the winning design with supplies to paint the mural along with a house account to Barrio’s restaurant and bar.

Applicants for this contest should provide images of their mural design and images from their portfolio. In addition to images contact information (age included), and a brief artist’s statement should be added. The competition will only accept images that are sent in the form of jpeg’s, illustrator file, URL or a Power Point presentation.
Please email all applications to marketing@barriotapas.com. The application deadline is March 20th, 2009.

Details to this contest are subject to change. Please visit www.barriotapas.com for updates.

When Cleve Ricksecker started downtown’s Special Improvement District (SID) in 2002,his philosophy on a neighborhood’s safety is anchored to how clean the neighborhood is. A study out of Harvard University backs up Cleve’s philosophy.

The Downtown Columbus story below:
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Harvard researchers recently completed a three-year study of crime and confirmed what we in downtown Columbus have known since 2002, when Capital Crossroads began operations. A clean, orderly environment reduces crime.

Researchers identified 34 “hot” spots in Lowell, Massachusetts. In half of the “hot” spots, researchers cleared trash, fixed streetlights, discouraged loitering, enforced building codes, made arrests for misdemeanors, and provided outreach services. The other “hot” spots received only regular city services, including regular police services.

Crime in areas of Lowell that received alternative safety services dropped 20%. Crime did not drop in areas with traditional services. Researchers point to the results as evidence that disorder breeds crime.

Downtown Columbus has seen good results from its holistic approach to safety. Capital Crossroads and, more recently, Discovery SID work with the Columbus Division of Police to supplement traditional police services with outreach, cleaning, strict enforcement of misdemeanor laws, and attention to conditions that can lead to crime. The Harvard study validates the common sense approach to safety taken in downtown Columbus.

To read the complete Harvard study, click here.