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Muralist offers to beautify that pipe
By ANNE LINDBERG © St. Petersburg Times, published May 6, 2001 PINELLAS PARK -- Imagine a bright blue sky, fluffy white clouds and soaring birds. Now, imagine those things painted on the ugly brown pipe that stretches across Park Boulevard and 66th Street N. Artist John Vitale did just that. Last week, he gave Pinellas Park officials a rough drawing of what the pipe might look like if he's allowed to paint a mural on it. "Basically, what I would like to do is tastefully camouflage the thing," Vitale said Friday. "It's something that would disguise it." His drawing shows a predominantly blue pipe with greenery near the bottom and clouds spread across the blue. A bird flits above the traffic. "I was trying to create something that would ground it," Vitale said of the greenery around the bottom. Vitale is an owner of Vitale Brothers Art Works, a mural-painting company that has been in Pinellas Park for about two years. The 10-year-old company has painted the concession stands at Tropicana Field as well as the backdrop at Al Lang Field in Florida Power Park. The Vitales have also painted murals on motels along the beaches. In offering to paint the pipe for free if the city or the state Department of Transportation, which owns the pole, will provide the paint, Vitale has supplied one answer for the outcry that struck the area when the pipe was erected. On first seeing it, drivers thought it was an overhead sewer pipe. Then hearing that it's really a monotube designed to hold road signs and traffic signals, people in the area made a joke of the pipe. Painting it a solid color other than brown might not be a bad idea, Pinellas Park traffic director Tom Nicholls said. But he was uncertain about the safety factor if it's turned into a piece of public art. Such a thing might distract drivers and contribute to accidents, he said. Vitale disagreed, saying the mural would distract no more than a billboard. The DOT has not yet decided what, if anything, to do about the monotube's appearance, said spokeswoman Marian Pscion. Officials may have some suggestions later this week, she said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
