Youths and adults paint murals along several North Avenue crosswalks as part of a project to raise awareness about reckless driving in the community. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
Edgar Mendez
There’s no doubt about it. Reckless driving is a major problem in Milwaukee.
But there are many who are working to do something about it. And this includes a team of youths and adults who participated in the “Cross/Words/North” project, an effort to increase a sense of community and raise awareness about reckless driving along North Avenue.
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They painted murals across four crosswalks, each featuring images that represent the themes of empowerment, diversity, love and unity. Themes they hoped would help persuade people to think of their community and slow down.
Their efforts to make Milwaukee better made this my favorite story of 2021.
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Our favorite stories of 2021: Crosswalk murals on North Avenue part of a larger effort to address reckless driving in the city
by Edgar Mendez, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service December 29, 2021
Raised in a South Side neighborhood where he still lives, Edgar Mendez is the managing editor of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Mendez is a proud graduate of UW-Milwaukee, where he double majored in journalism and sociology, and of Marquette University, where he earned a master’s degree in communication. He won a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award and 2014, 2017, and 2018 Milwaukee Press Club Awards for his reporting on taverns, marijuana law enforcement, and lead in water service lines. In 2008, he won a Society of Professional Journalists’ regional award for columns dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and racism. His writing has been published by the Associated Press, Reuters, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media. He has also co-authored three articles published in scholarly journals.
