StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Wow, that mural is obnoxious. I'm surprised they got away with it. I wonder if there will be complaints or even law suits.
So, including Krug Park, there are or will be 3 new bars in Benson? And a few apartments on Maple to boot.
Seriously? That mural is sooooo creative. And how the heck could there be lawsuits over it? That makes no legal or even logical sense what so ever. It's their property and that mural is breaking no laws whatsoever. Let's think for a minute streets. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean its breaking any laws.
Do some research and/or take a class in land use law before you start sputtering off gibberish based on nothing. I can't say what a judge or jury would decide in such a case, but I can say I wouldn't be surprised if law suits are brought.
Brad, I totally agree! As I mentioned in the Renier piano building thread, that building will really be a model of what can be done to breath new life into Omaha's traditional building stock.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
I guess I'm in the minority, but I don't mind the mural. It's not my style, but I think it's interesting to look at and can appreciate the work that was put into it. I wouldn't like something like this in the Old Market, but I think it kind of fits in Benson (along with some other extravagant murals in the area).
StreetsOfOmaha wrote:Wow, that mural is obnoxious. I'm surprised they got away with it. I wonder if there will be complaints or even law suits.
So, including Krug Park, there are or will be 3 new bars in Benson? And a few apartments on Maple to boot.
Seriously? That mural is sooooo creative. And how the heck could there be lawsuits over it? That makes no legal or even logical sense what so ever. It's their property and that mural is breaking no laws whatsoever. Let's think for a minute streets. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean its breaking any laws.
Do some research and/or take a class in land use law before you start sputtering off gibberish based on nothing. I can't say what a judge or jury would decide in such a case, but I can say I wouldn't be surprised if law suits are brought.
Brad, I totally agree! As I mentioned in the Renier piano building thread, that building will really be a model of what can be done to breath new life into Omaha's traditional building stock.
I read your article. No where does it say "because someone thinks it's ugly" unless there is nudity or it is emitting some odd odor, it is not defined as a nuisance. How about we read our sources before posting them.
So, it's a very unique and intense work of art, but I'd hardly call it a nuisance. Â I've seen a lot more billboards that bother me more than this. Â At least this is something original with character.
I do agree that it's not something that would work in other parts of the city, but it doesn't seem so bad in Benson. Â After all, it is still kind of a gritty strip there and a little oddball.
"Keep Benson Weird"...any chance of that sticking?
I agree with Seth. 'Graffiti Art' has evolved into a legitimate art form-----and as far as that aesthetic goes, I think the mural looks pretty cool. It's a good fit for Benson.
But Wikipedia does a pretty good job of giving an overview.
I'm working from my phone right now (not very conducive...) but I will try to find some cases and articles if I have time.
Again, I'm just saying I wouldn't be suprised if there were law suits. It has nothing to do with how "legitimate" the art is.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
Louis Market, a longtime fixture in Benson, will close in the coming months.
Dick Cosaert, president of Cubby's Inc., owns the grocery store and leases the space at 5718 Northwest Radial, where the store has been in business since 1957.
He said to keep operating the store, he would have had to spend a lot of money to modernize.
Cosaert said the store will begin discounting items on Jan. 11 and will close once the inventory is gone. He said he wasn't sure when it would close for good
But Wikipedia does a pretty good job of giving an overview.
I'm working from my phone right now (not very conducive...) but I will try to find some cases and articles if I have time.
Again, I'm just saying I wouldn't be suprised if there were law suits. It has nothing to do with how "legitimate" the art is.
I'd be very surprised if any such lawsuit won. While deteriorating buildings and poor maintenance may constitute a nuisance, I've never heard of an otherwise well-maintained building being declared a nuisance due to color. Maybe it violates a covenant or the HOA by-laws, sure. But a nuisance? Highly doubtful.
heck, the wikipedia article you linked to disputes your assertion:
To be a nuisance, the level of interference must rise above the merely aesthetic. For example: if your neighbour paints their house purple, it may offend you; however, it doesn't rise to the level of nuisance. In most cases, normal uses of a property that can constitute quiet enjoyment cannot be restrained in nuisance either. For example, the sound of a crying baby may be annoying, but it is an expected part of quiet enjoyment of property and does not constitute a nuisance.
Hi. I'm new to the forum so this is my first post, but I've been following this site and its predecesors for many years. I just wanted to say that I completely agree with Omahaben, there's basically no way that this mural could be considered a nuisance in legal terms and I strongly doubt any case proposing a nuisance claim would be taken by an attorney. Â Nuissance is a fairly strictly defined term in the law and as Omahaben has pointed out, a mural would fail to constitute a nuisance, but as Omahaben has said it could very well violate covenants in place.
ThatGuy wrote:I was talking to one of the owners of the Waiting Room this weekend. Apparently they purchased a building across the street and just a bit west. They are planning 7 apartments on the second level. On the main level there will be a bar and some type of burger place. They have talked to Stella's about opening there.
There was a sign in the window that I noticed going by. Â I think it said "Loft 2 Coming Soon."
ThatGuy wrote:I was talking to one of the owners of the Waiting Room this weekend. Apparently they purchased a building across the street and just a bit west. They are planning 7 apartments on the second level. On the main level there will be a bar and some type of burger place. They have talked to Stella's about opening there.
There was a sign in the window that I noticed going by. I think it said "Loft 2 Coming Soon."
Sarah Baker Hansen WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER wrote:Lot 2 owners Brad and Johanna Marr said they had some construction setbacks, but the work now is done. The menu will feature "refined American" cuisine. The restaurant will serve its first Sunday brunch on March 11.
A group of Omaha entrepreneurs hopes to raise $1.3 million to restore a former Benson movie theater and transform it into an arts performance space and education center.
The Benalto Theater, 6054 Maple St., was built in 1923 as a combination vaudeville house, movie theater and community space. From 1927 to 1953 it was the Benson Theater, part of a chain of neighborhood movie theaters, seating about 400. It has been vacant for five years.
Amy Ryan, owner and operator of the Pizza Shoppe next door, is spearheading the project, which she sees as part of a self-sustaining community development concept for Benson.
The revamped theater would join a number of restaurants, bars and other businesses that have opened in the neighborhood in the past nine months or so, including Ella's, Lot 2 and Ethel Mae's restaurants and Krug Park bar. Beercade, a bar and arcade, is opening April 13. Another restaurant, Mantra, is expected to open soon, and a brewpub is in the works.
Just goes to show you that a building very rarely ever looks any better than day one after it opens, despite good intentions. Â Unless it is painstakingly restored to near original or totally gutted.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings" ...and then they were gone.
GetUrban wrote:Just goes to show you that a building very rarely ever looks any better than day one after it opens, despite good intentions. Unless it is painstakingly restored to near original or totally gutted.
iamjacobm wrote:Dick Cosaert, president of Cubby's Inc., owns the grocery store and leases the space at 5718 Northwest Radial, where the store has been in business since 1957.
I question that date. My grandparents immigrated from Europe to Omaha in about the 1910s, and I know from family stories that "old man Louis," as everybody in that generation called him, kept some number of families afloat during the Depression by allowing them to run tabs until they could pay. Quite a few kids of my parents generation owe him a much better childhood than they would have had if he hadn't been so generous. I don't know the exact date he opened the store but I distinctly remember going there with my mother before I was in kindergarten, and that was 1955.
And as a note to the thread about the new mural in Benson: one of the stories that was linked to called Benson a small town in Nebraska. I don't know where they were from, but I would think that anyone who knows Omaha would know that Benson was incorporated into the Omaha city limits decades ago, and physically is part of Omaha as well. That article made it sound like you have to travel miles out onto the virgin prairie to find Benson. Amusing.
OK, besides Lot 2, who has decent eggs benedict? I am by no means an expert, but the Denmark Benedict I ordered at Bailey's a few monthss ago was pretty good IMO.
ThatGuy wrote:OK, besides Lot 2, who has decent eggs benedict? I am by no means an expert, but the Denmark Benedict I ordered at Bailey's a few monthss ago was pretty good IMO.
After receiving the mayor’s 2013 budget, City Councilman Pete Festersen proposed an amendment to restore funding and reset the original timeline for the 63rd Street and Northwest Radial project. The proposed capital improvement program recently presented to the city council shows that the construction of this much-anticipated Benson improvement project was moved back – from 2015 to 2018.
Looks like this is Sarah Johnson's latest endeavor, now that she has left Greenstreet. I'm certainly very interested and wish them all the best. Benson is the perfect place for a concept like this.
"The right to have access to every building in the city by private motorcar in an age when everyone possesses such a vehicle is actually the right to destroy the city."
Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 1963
According to City Councilman Pete Festersen, the $560,000 renovation of the Benson Business District’s eastern gateway will begin next week at the intersection of 58th and Maple Streets. The first phase, approved by the City Council this week, will construct a new public space that features new landscaping, retaining walls and rock stream elements for storm water control on the partial closure of 58th Street at its intersection with Maple Street. This work will be completed in the next two weeks and be planted in the spring .
And Omaha Bicycle Co. finished their mural on their building.
 times a thousand.
