Work begins on massive Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower

July 9, 2020 | 
A stretch of Fifth Avenue between East 56th and 57th streets was closed to traffic as city Department of Transportation workers began measuring and stenciling the giant yellow letters onto the pavement with spray paint and tape just after 8 a.m.

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The Mayor Bill de Blasio-sanctioned mural will then be painted by local artists starting at 11 a.m., with Hizzoner expected to show up later.
“I’m extremely proud to be here today. Black lives matter,” said retired Manhattan resident Ellen Myers, 70, who was among a small group of bystanders watching the mural go up.
“This country has treated people of color less than whites, which has resulted in what we’re seeing go on in the news. This administration has encouraged racism in this country and I think this is the perfect place for this mural.”
De Blasio hatched the plan to paint the mural in front of Trump Tower last month — as part of several installations throughout the five boroughs — despite petitioning the White House for a federal bailout.
A maintenance worker from Staten Island who would only give his first name, Kevin, ripped the mural as “legalized graffiti by de Blasio.”
“American lives matter,” the 63-year-old said. “It’s a shame. This is my taxes. I pay $200 to $400 a week in taxes for this? It’s legalized graffiti and a lot of politics.”
“It’s an insult to our president,” Kevin added.
Last week, Trump slammed the mural as a “symbol of hate.”
“NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets.