Sad news for mural lovers and Noam Chomsky enthusiasts alike: The construction at the corner of 19th street and Fairmount avenue, which is currently only slightly covering up Philly’s much-loved Noam Chomsky mural, is indeed a sign of the mural’s nearing departure from the Fairmount streetscape.
According to Plan Philly, the mural honoring one of Philly’s – and the world’s – finest thinkers will soon be covered up by 15 new rental apartments, seven parking spaces, and “some type of food retail space.”
And while at least one other beloved Philly mural saw its neighborhood fight development from blocking and/or destroying it, in this case it so far appears that the Chomsky mural is inspiring much less fanfare. Although plenty of people have taken to Twitter to share their sadness about the planned cover up, and some have even reached out to me to weigh in.
Personally, I think that neighborhood development would have to be the obvious priority. Street art by nature has a relatively short shelf life, and there’s no real great reason why a mural should hold up building homes/restaurants/etc. Especially not considering that Philly has PLENTY of other walls to paint up and plenty more great artists to do so. That said, I do hope that another Chomsky mural can and will be created somewhere else in the city.
What do you all think?
UPDATE: According to a few of you on Twitter and Instagram, at least some people in the neighborhood are, in fact, fairly annoyed with this planned development. One commenter on Instagram even saying:
“A park is sorely needed there. Residents are not happy with this development. There’s a lot more to this story.” -@paperweightds
Feel free to comment, if you know more… I wonder what people’s concerns are with the development?
Streets Dept 
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