By Jenae Peterson

AUSTIN — Vision 2020’s goal to replace bad graffiti in the city with good graffiti has gone well, and there are hopes to move on to bigger projects in the near future.

“(It’s) just getting kicked off, so we’re hoping to do some larger scale versions down the road,” Historical Paramount Theatre Executive Director and graffiti task force member Jennie Knoebel said.

She, along with several other community members, is a member of the graffiti task force, which hopes to rid Austin of the crude, profane graffiti that currently sits around the city. Project leader Geoff Smith is excited about the volunteers that have stepped forward to help reach the goal.

“We’ve found a lot of different groups take part, and a lot of the original areas that we were talking about have been taken care of,” Smith said.

The group started painting around May or June of 2014, and Smith said things have gone well so far. A volunteer of the Community Pride and Spirit board, Smith took on the job after he took a leadership class a few years ago. As Vision 2020 started in 2012, Smith and his leadership classmates talked over which project they wanted to take over, eventually settling on Community Pride and Spirit.

“It was a pretty broad vision for that group, so the class felt it worked for everybody,” Smith said.

After getting involved with that, Smith decided to take the reins on the graffiti task force. He is excited to see what paintings local artists will come up with and already has some favorites.

“My favorite spot is definitely what was done behind The Paramount,” Smith said. “That’s some really neat stuff.”

Nicole Weiss and Mike Lenn both contributed to the paintings behind The Paramount building, which feature different sea creatures as well as a montage, according to Knoebel. Two air-conditioning units and one transformer box were painted to cover older, more random graffiti.

Knoebel said Weiss’s acrylic art was planned, while Lenn’s spray paint art was not, but they still plan to keep the montage he painted.

“It looks really cool,” Knoebel said about both artists’ work.

She said Weiss decided to paint nautical creatures because the art would face the city swimming pool.

Groups are still painting this summer, and a group from Pacelli Catholic Schools is set to paint sometime next week. There have been groups from churches, Americorps, individual groups, volunteers and artists that have painted.

“It’s been a great response of people who’ve stepped forward to pitch in, and I’ve heard a great response from people, so I think it’s going well.”

Smith said he was not too concerned with people painting over their good graffiti, because many of the volunteers are eager to paint more and it would give another opportunity for people to be creative.

The work that has been done has made a difference.

“You take a walk around the Mill Pond, I think it has really changed the feel of that area,” Smith said. “It feels a lot happier and more pleasant. It’s a big improvement, at least to me.”

The graffiti task force will continue painting throughout the summer. Anyone who wishes to be on a painting team should fill out an application with Park and Recreation services. For questions or more information, call the Park and Recreation building at 507-433-1881.