LifeCenter wants new Downtown mural

Preliminary concept, February 2008

Cincinnati City Council's Economic Development Committee will hold a public hearing next Tuesday on a request by LifeCenter Organ Donor Network to install a new mural on the north elevation of 920 Race Street (BIRD'S EYE).

The mural is part of a larger advertising campaign by LifeCenter to raise awareness and to spread a positive message about organ and tissue donation.

LifeCenter applied for a notwithstanding ordinance to install the mural in February and hopes to complete it in time for "Donate Life Month", which is this month.

The mural, designed by Topic Design Group, would contain a series of silhouettes meant to convey the message that individuals who are organ and tissue donors can save up to eight lives.

"We have chosen this location within downtown Cincinnati because placement at this site effectively reaches an urban and minority communities, where organ and tissue donation is underserved," LifeCenter public affairs director Andi Johnson wrote in a statement of need to Reggie Lyons of the Bureau of Buildings and Inspections.

Because it is essentially an outdoor, off-site advertisement on a building LifeCenter does not own, the mural is illegal within the Downtown Development (DD) district.

The mural would also have to be approved by the City's Historic Conservation Board because the proposed site is within the Ninth Street Historic District.

"Our intention is for a larger format, while keeping the visual integrity strong yet tasteful," Johnson wrote. "We feel this message and design to be timeless, and worthy of lasting mural placement within the city of Cincinnati."

LifeCenter is currently investigating more sites for its mural campaign.

LifeCenter Organ Donor Network was founded in 1981 and is a non-profit organization that serves eight counties in southwest Ohio, six counties in Northern Kentucky and two counties in southeast Indiana.