Stop the Dorm/Save Our School retained the services of Chico Garcia, the East Village’s resident graffiti muralist to paint a portable mural on a tarp last Saturday in Tompkins Sq. Park for their Web site. In the finished artwork, Gregg Singer, the owner of the former CHARAS/El Bohio building, is shown smiling contentedly and talking into a cell phone, while behind him is the completed new 23-story dormitory. “He’s chillin’ because he did it,” Chico, 40, a native Lower East Sider, explained. In the rest of the mural, a little girl, representing the community, is crying, as Chico, representing the artistic spirit of the Lower East Side, tries to stop the project. Above, a large hand, representing “corporate greed” is shown near the names of Singer, the nonprofit National Development Council, which would operate the dorm, and Samuel Beard, N.D.C.’s chairperson. Chico said he supports the building being returned as center for cultural and youth. Liz Herring, who lives next to the construction site and is an art teacher at P.S. 64 on E. Sixth St., helped Chico paint the mural. She said she worried about asbestos and lead contamination if the old P.S. 64 building on the construction site is demolished, and opposes the project in general.
