A Chicago alderman is planning to introduce an ordinance letting property owners protect graffiti as art after a cleanup blitz near a site being pitched to Amazon claimed an unintended target.
A work by a French street artist on the side of Cards Against Humanity’s headquarters was blasted away as the city dramatically stepped up graffiti cleanup near some proposed sites for Amazon’s second headquarters in the lead-up to the company’s visit to Chicago last week.
The maker of the irreverent card game is on Elston Avenue in the Logan Square area, across the Chicago River from Lincoln Yards — Sterling Bay’s more than 70-acre riverfront site near Lincoln Park and Bucktown.
Department of Streets and Sanitation workers handled 256 requests for graffiti removal around Lincoln Yards during the month that ended Wednesday, according to city data. Among them was the piece Cards Against Humanity founder Max Temkin invited French street artist Blek le Rat to create on the company’s building. Read more