(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A North Side artist is speaking out after her mural of a famous Chicago bird was painted over.
"I can see the eye, the white part, and its wing," said artist Ashley Kennedy.
She reminisced about what once was a mural she painted of a piping plover at the Buena Avenue pedestrian tunnel.
"I go through this every day to work. Everybody else's tunnels got beautiful art on it. Ours has been blank for years."
That's why she decided to give it a bit of life with Chicago's favorite little bird.
"I wanted it to be something special to the neighborhood," Kenned said.
But the mural's life was cut short when it was whitewashed just three weeks after Kennedy painted it.
"C’mon, who does that? What kind of person – like it's obviously not graffiti, who does that?"
Despite its short life, the mural had a big impact on locals
"I just got a huge positive response by everybody walking by, and it was just the most beautiful feeling in the world," Kennedy said.
And other Buena Park residents, like Alex, weren't happy either.
"This walkway needs some life… nice to see local artists representing the neighborhood with their art," Alex said.
A sign at the tunnel from Friends of the Peace Garden reads that the whitewashing was "an error" by the Chicago Park District.
Kennedy said neighborhood groups are even working with her to contact the 46th ward Alderwoman Angela Clay and figure out how she might be able to paint the mural for a second, and hopefully last, time.
Friday, a Chicago Park District spokesperson told WBBM that the park district was not responsible for painting over it.
In addition, the Chicago Streets and Sanitation's graffiti section has assured Friends of the Peace Garden that they did not cover the mural, explaining that they do not service pedestrian tunnels like the one on Buena Avenue.
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