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Friday, October 10, 2008 7:15 PM EDT

Cool art wanted here

By John T. Eberth
Olean Times Herald

Vacant North Union Street storefronts, like this one, would get an attractive facelife if one city resident's idea is feasible. Photo by Darrell Gronemeier

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OLEAN - Frank Jester wants to bring life to vacant downtown storefronts.

Mr. Jester wants area art students to paint scenes on the windows of vacant buildings along North Union and West State streets. He said just because the businesses have left the downtown, that doesn’t mean the downtown has to look abandoned.

“It’s pretty pathetic. I counted 10 empty stores the other day,” he said. “I just want to put some scenery in the windows of these empty businesses. Maybe we can’t fill these empty stores, but we can make them look better.”

Mr. Jester is a member of Common Council President Richard Smith’s Cleanup the City Organization.

He predicted that brightening the storefronts will have a positive effect on everyone.

The better the downtown looks, the more people will want to spend time downtown. More people downtown means more business and more business means landlords will be able to rent their empty buildings, Mr. Jester said.

“I talked to the teachers at the Olean High School art class and they’re all for it,” Mr. Jester said. “My next step will be to contact the owners of the buildings to see if they’ll go for it. I don’t see why they wouldn’t. With paint on glass, all you have to do is scrape it off.”

Mr. Jester said he’ll discuss his plan during the next meeting of the cleanup committee Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The group in the Common Council Chambers of the Municipal Building. The building is on the corner of East State and North Union streets. The meetings are open to the public.

Mr. Jester said he got the idea while driving through a village near Rochester.

“I can’t remember the name of the village but it had a lot of empty stores, like Olean,” he said.

He said art students could work with building owners to pick themes for the windows.

“We can make it seasonal, changing the scenes as the seasons change if that’s what they want,” Mr. Jester said.

(Contact reporter John Eberth at jeberth@oleantimesherald.com)

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