Last Thursday evening (Sept. 25th), my neighbour (Stephanie at the Clever Crow) informed me that, through social media, she saw that the following photo would be painted on the silo at Dorchester's historic Mill by a Toronto artist, without community consultation:

Council was contacted the same evening and quickly stepped in to temporarily pause the mural, requiring the committee that approved the project and staff to conduct proper consultation.

I can appreciate our municipal council's action on this front.

Today - Tuesday, October 2nd - A meeting was held between the Economic Development Committee, myself (from The Frozen Cow), and Sean and Stephanie (from The Clever Crow).

We were optimistic, raising serious concerns with the project, including:

• The protection of historic buildings (Dorchester does not have many!)
• The subject of the painting (An off-leash dog and a woman's back-end)
• The lack of LOCAL (Toronto artist, and where is the image from??)
• Parking concerns (people observing the mural from an already crowded parking lot)
• Safety concerns (people/kids taking pictures where vehicles are moving)

Ultimately, we are not against council's vision of incorporating some murals throughout the municipality (given that there is a donor involved). However, there are better locations. We should preserve the Mill's history.

The committee meeting ended with no confirmation of whether the mural would proceed or not.

I was told by a committee member (not a member of council) that these are simply my opinions and not the concerns of our wider community.

As such, I am creating this petition to show that our community shares these concerns - so that council can make a properly informed decision based on community feedback.

Save the historic Mill. Locate the mural elsewhere. Re-focus the mural to be local.