Downtown Mural

I often pass by this mural in downtown Brownsville located on the corner of Elizabeth and 8th street. I am not sure who the artist may be but I have a hunch it may be Brownsville muralist Luis "Wichi" Guevera who has a few murals around town. I don't have my sources or facts confirmed, but I believe that a groups of artists tried to organize an art group in that building, thus the mural, which may be a collaborative mural.

The art group no longer functions at the buidling and I don't know if they are still working in the community. The space is actually for rent but the mural remains and it is in pretty bad condition (notice the peeling and gang tagging). I don't know why the mural is peeling since it is relatively new (not more than 8 years). It could be that the wall was not primed before the mural went on or that the paints used were not made to sustain extreme changes in humidity and temperature.

Besides the damage, the mural is beautiful and depicts a scene from historical photographs of Elizabeth Street. To see more historical photos of downtown Brownsville click here. Yet in it's sad state of neglect, the mural represents to me the current state of downtown Brownsville. While some areas have been renovated by the city, university, museums and a few philanthropic business people, downtown is still rather downtrodden with many buildings in neglect and decay.

I really think our downtown is a diamond in the rough that can make Brownsvillle shine even more if more of our citizens took time and interest to invest in it. As the second most historical city in Texas and the oldest city in the Valley, we should take advantage of making our downtown a city attraction, much like Austin, San Antonio and New Orleans have. The big problem that people say about downtown is the lack of parking. Yes, I have to admitt parking is not easy in downtown Brownsville but it's not that bad and you can find small parking lots scattered through downtown if you are willing to walk a couple of blocks. Hey, that's how parking worked most of the time for me in Austin and San Antonio. What would be perfect in downtown Brownsville is if someone would invest in building a parking garage or two.

So come on folks! Let's get things going in downtown Brownsville!