Lincoln Boulevard Model
| Lincoln boulevard is a five city blocks stretch of divided
roadway in the community of Dunbar in the City of Fort Myers Florida. In the summer of 1986 the reverend Israel Suarez invited me to work with a group of kids that were part of a summer youth program sponsored by the Nations Association, a social service organization founded by the reverend Suarez. The Reverend Suarez and I came up with the Lincoln Boulevard Model, a work of art that was a perfect opportunity to amplify the role of art, particularly as it referred to the issues of "reclamation" that I was exploring at the time and at the same time, an extension of the reverend Suarez's ministry into the social rehabilitation of that part of the community. Together, we brought to the Lincoln Boulevard action in the form of a face lift to the physical environment and an uplift to the spirit of the residents of the area as our crew of youngsters radically changed the shape and the experience of the community. Artists had already explored issues of reclamation and reuse of materials and found objects. I wanted to extend that idea into the reclamation of whole environments. The Lincoln Boulevard Model offered an opportunity to reclaim an urban environment from social neglect and change the image and the context from neglect to a greater level of care. |
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| The project involved the clean up of the entire stretch of five blocks that make the boulevard and the preparation and planting of the new trees and shrubs at the planters in the medium at the intersection of the streets at the end of each block, the replacement or repainting of mail boxes and the cleaning of front yards and such. |
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| The work crew consisted of four girls and six boys not
including my son (front left) who contributed to the installation, also
pictured above was a visiting official from the city of Fort Myers. The City of Fort Myers Mayor Arthur N. Hamel saw to the collaborative effort of a number of city departments who assisted in the project. We removed tons of garbage of all kinds which the city hauled to the land fill. Picture below the reverend Suarez and two of the kids filling the trash cans with debris, the kids were exposed to the example of leadership that we provided by working hand and hand with them. |
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| Picture above is the rest of the delegation of officials
whose participation resulted in the City of For Myers inclusion of the
Lincoln boulevard project into a beautification program that was to
continue the maintenance and care of the planters and the median.
Please notice the median as bare as the walkway planter the group is posing for the picture and the overgrown and neglected yard of the house on the left. |
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| We Planted 40 Mahogany trees like the one pictured above, several Sago Palms and hundreds of Perennials at the planters in the intersections. This together with the painting of mailboxes and the installation of new ones preserved the relation of the work with art and its use of the space available to be modified by the intervention of these materials. |
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| The Project was completed and a ceremony at the Nations Association soup kitchen honored the effort of the kids involved who together with the project were presented to the leadership of mayor Art Hamel and council woman Veronica Shoemaker and NAACP leader Willie Battle. |
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| I shook Mayor Hamel's hand and grimaced at the fact that
no one could see the art in the project nor the media was about to show
that five city blocks of an impoverish part of the city could be restored
by a group of kids a reverend and an artist. Just the same, the City of
Fort Myers pledged to maintain the project from that point on which was a
triumph on its own.
Please visit the next page and see what a miracle the place is today, 21 years later. The role of art with its new level of reconciliation with life was already evident in 1986 at least to me, but it wasn't until I visited the place recently in 2007 that the evidence for the effect of that kind of art was overwhelming even for me. |
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