It’s an extreme makeover no one really wanted. A bungled improvement project in a laneway near Ossington Street and Queen Street West has left more than 20 garages that were once brightly painted with local street art blackened over — and some angry neighbours and artists. The Laneway Project, a non-profit dedicated to transforming the city’s laneways into more vibrant spaces, wanted to make the alley a bit brighter. But, due to a mix-up the non-profit blames on a third party hired to oversee the painting process, the garages belonging to homes on Brookfield Street now feature the letters of the alphabet against a black backdrop, erasing art such as fairies and cartoon characters without the permission of all of the homeowners.Resident Tony Ferreira said he did give permission for the graffiti on his garage to be painted over, but “it wasn’t supposed to be like that, all black.”He was never shown the plans, he said, and he returned from Portugal a few weeks ago to find “a mess.”“I thought it was terrible,” he said, adding it makes the street even darker at night. “I was surprised, they did the whole thing and it looked pretty bad.”Ferreira has since had his garage (the D) repainted through The Laneway Project. But the rest of the alphabet and the dark background still stands.The project’s co-founder and executive director Michelle Senayah said they’re “profoundly regretful” about what happened. A third-party contractor was hired to complete the project, and did not follow clear instructions, she said.The alphabet was painted by London, U.K., artist Ben Eine in his signature block style. But only four of the garages — where owners had given permission — were supposed to be painted, not the whole laneway, according to Senayah.“We were adding new murals to supplement what was already there, not painting over and certainly not in black,” she said. ...
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