ORLANDO, Fla. — People in Pine Hills know outsiders may see their community as riddled with crime, but numerous people are working to more accurately improve the image of their beloved home.
- Seven Charlestin creates Pine Hills mural with artists
- Co-chair of community group says project helping foster pride
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Seven Charlestin has lived in Pine Hills his whole life. Last December, he decided to create a mural over an old wall.
“The paint on the wall has always been chipping off,” he explained. “I paint a lot as a hobby, so I’ve seen walls being transformed into something people could feel pride in.”
Charlestin corralled around 20 artists of all ages to help craft the massive mural.
“All of us share the kind of common feeling that art isn’t really appreciated over here as much as other areas, and we don’t feel like it has to be that way,” Charlestin said.
Beautification projects like Charlestin’s mural have the added bonus of improving the sense of community pride, which can indirectly help reduce crime and encourage more people to call Pine Hills home. It has the potential to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“When you have stable neighborhoods, there is less crime, because everybody starts knowing everybody,” explained Kenneth Dwyer, the co-chair of the Pine Hills Safe Neighborhood Partnership. “And when you can have people zip in and zip out, not knowing anybody, that’s when you can have more crime.”
Overall, crime is trending down in Pine Hills. There has been roughly 1,500 reported crimes so far this year, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, but around 60,000 people live in the community per the 2010 census.
The Safe Neighborhood Partnership has taken on numerous projects over the years, including decorating the traffic utility boxes. The group’s latest project is new welcome signs, which call Pine Hills, “a safe and diverse community.”