The liaisons envision the mural on the bare, concrete walls between 8thStreet Southeast and Rollins Avenue — where the railroad runs above the street.

Arling, who has lived in Southeast Como for the last four years, remembers how he felt about the walls when he first moved into the area.

“When I first came … it seemed like I was entering a neighborhood that didn’t seem to own the wall in the way they could,” Arling said. . . ."

". . . Arling said the Good Neighbor Fund agreed to support the mural, but only if the project was approved by SECIA, the City of Minneapolis, the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association and the property owners in both neighborhoods. James De Sota, SECIA’s neighborhood director, said property owners in the Como area will vote on the project at about 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Van Cleve Park.

When SECIA’s board voted to send a proposal to the Good Neighborhood Fund there was a unanimous vote in favor of it, but De Sota said there were some members who had reservations. He said there are concerns about how the wall would be maintained after its completion and that some people just don’t like the idea of murals because “they think they’re tacky.”

De Sota said that even if the project doesn’t get approved, it did get the community involved. “I think the liaisons have done a great job … to try and get a sense of the community and display that. The main goal was community building, and I think it accomplished that,” he said.

Unlike Como, the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood was involved later on in the project’s development. Melissa Bean, executive director of the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association, said MHNA was not a part of the project in its beginning and at this point considers the mural “a Como project.” . . ."