When asked how he would respond to critics of the Haines Borough’s new decorated crosswalks, outgoing public works director Ralph Borders said, “My response is, ‘Kiss my ass.’”
“There will always be somebody who doesn’t like what you do,” said Borders, who is retiring in less than two months. “I can’t do nothing just because of a few people.”
Last year, Borders and former public facilities director Carlos Jimenez hatched the plan to have local artist Merrick Bochart paint several crosswalks in town. Borders got the idea after flipping through a trade magazine and catching a glimpse of the rainbow-colored crosswalks in San Francisco’s Castro District.
“We pretty much left it up to Merrick. She’s an artist. (She could) come up with an idea that would look nice. We didn’t really tell her what to make,” Borders said.
Unlike her intricate mural work, the crosswalk designs had to be simple, with clean lines. Using woodcut images as a reference, she designed and cut plywood stencils that can be used to easily repaint the crosswalks next year.
The Port Chilkoot Dock crosswalk at the intersection of Beach Road and Portage Street features a gigantic halibut in a tiny fishing boat, being tossed about by rolling waves.
“I kind of wanted to depict all the history of hard work at sea and bringing in fish, but then also kind of be fun,” Bochart said.
Once the white sidewalk paint was put down, Bochart decided the design needed more color, so she used a paintbrush to touch up portions with pops of turquoise and yellow.
Bochart also recently completed two crosswalks at the intersection of Main Street and Second Avenue, depicting mermaids swimming amidst schools of fish.
“I think one of my challenges was the limitations of cutting stuff out of plywood. It kind of limited what I could do with my designs. So I might find what other materials could be used if I do another one,” she said.
On Tuesday, tourists were admiring the Main Street designs and taking photos of one another amongst the fish.
Storeowner Rodney Hinson, whose Main Street business looks out on the crosswalks, touched off a Facebook spat last week when he posted a photo of the unfinished piece and asked, “Anyone know how much of our tax money is being wasted on these crosswalks? Please don’t tell me it is art.”
The post attracted more than 70 responses, overwhelmingly praising the beautification effort.
Hinson later apologized for not taking the time to make a more tempered critique of the work, but said he stands by his position that stenciling crosswalks “is not the best we could do to beautify Haines” and that the designs will quickly be worn down and lose their luster.
“I still think that it was not a good use of taxpayers’ money. There’s a lot of other things that could be done,” he said.
Hinson said, for example, he would support new banners honoring community members who have served in the military. “We have a very large number of veterans in our area and their service could be highlighted this way. I would be happy to help fund such a project,” Hinson said.
Public works director Borders said the crosswalks cost $1,500 and came from the department’s Parks budget. A good chunk of that money went toward creating the stencils, so the annual cost of maintaining the designs will be much less, he said.
Borders said he has received a deluge of positive feedback on the crosswalks, and that school administrators have inquired about having some done at the school.
Regarding the Facebook fracas, Bochart said, “I feel it’s less of an expenditure of taxpayer money but more helping fulfill a little vision of some of our longstanding, hard-working public works employees… Why can’t Haines be just a little more lighthearted? I think it could be good for all of us.”