While we believe that beautifying downtown Grand Island not only improves its aesthetics, it also can be an economic benefit. People like to do business in clean, attractive venues. While we believe that beautifying downtown Grand Island not only improves its aesthetics, it also can be an economic benefit.
People like to do business in clean, attractive venues.
Our View While painting murals on downtown buildings would be nice, they should be private ventures instead of city government efforts. We question, however, whether the city should be in the mural business. A current effort from the Community Projects Department puts the city squarely in that position. The project involves applying for grants from the Nebraska Arts Council, with hopes of raising matching funds through local grants and private contributions, for murals to be painted on three buildings in downtown Grand Island. Although we agree that this project would add vitality to the downtown and improve the eastern entrance to the community, we don't think the city needs to be involved to such a degree.