East Austin Mural

Angel Quesada and Lannea Brooks were arrested recently working on a mural at 2828 Lyons Street on Saturday, October 24th. They are both being charged with a Class A misdemeanor for Graffiti, which carries a punishment of up to $4,000 and/or a year in jail. Angel is an accomplished artist and community muralist and has served for the City of Austin as consultant for the Terrazzas Branch Library - Ceasar Chavez Memorial when appointed by Councilmember Mike Martinez during his 3 year artist residence at Mexic-Arte Museum. His most recent position as an educator for the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Departments Mexican American Cultural Center allowed him to serve the greater Austin Hispanic & Latino Communities by providing adult educational programming as well as championing Latino Artists statewide. Lannea Brooks has recently moved to the Govalle Neighborhood and frequently engages with the art community in East Austin. The mural in question was created in the spirit of generosity and is a donation towards the beautification of the Govalle neighborhood. The permitting process is currently underway and, once approved, the mural will be under city care for up to nine years after the approval process is completed in 2009.

Angel was detained in the Travis County Jail about 18 hours with Graffiti charges before being released on his own recognizance; his pre-trial is on Monday, November 9th and has posted a $2,500 bond. Lannea was detained at the Travis County Correctional Facility in Del Valle for four days before posting a $2,500 bail and awaits her pretrial on November 12th.
We need your help! By signing this petition, you can help prevent Angel and Lannea from being unjustly punished for beautifying our neighborhood. They sincerely appreciate your help.


To the Attorneys Office of Travis County;

We, the undersigned people of Austin, call on the Travis County Attorney Office to drop all charges against Angel Quesada who was arrested for and charged with Graffiti as they were engaged in painting a mural at the embankment wall / bridge 2828 Lyons Street October 24th, 2009.

Our community and the members thereof are important to us. While we commend the Austin Police Department for ensuring that our neighborhood remains safe and we encourage them to continue to do so, we also recognize that art is an important asset for our communities and do not consider the acts of either Quesada criminal in nature. Rather, we appreciate having an accomplished artist like Angel Quesada increase the aesthetic value of our neighborhood by painting murals on unsightly surfaces. These acts, we strongly believe, are not acts of intentional property defacement or tagging. In fact, we hope that the artwork will be completed.

Sincerely - in Solidarity,

The Undersigned