Chris Statton, former executive director of The Roxie and member of the Clarion Alley Mural Project, applies paint to the wall that most recently featured The Tamale Lady.

Chris Statton, who resigned from The Roxie in October, began a new project in Clarion Alley on Tuesday. The “Wall of Shame & Solutions,” which is likely to encourage more conversations about our rapidly-changing city, claims the space that was, up until yesterday, occupied by the portrait of Virginia Ramos (otherwise known as The Tamale Lady).

It was announced last month that Ramos had raised enough funds to open her own brick-and-mortar storefront near 16th and Mission streets.

Statton, who has been a member of the Clarion Alley Mural Project for years, spent yesterday buffing The Tamale Lady wall and today painting a bridge on the new blank space. Taped next to where he was working was a list of “Shame” and “Solutions.” Included under “Shame” were things such as “‘Google Buses’/SFMTA,” “3,705 Ellis Evictions 1997-2013,” “Corporate Tax Giveaways by Mayor Ed Lee,” and “Airbnb.”

The list of “Solutions” included things like “Private shuttles should be banned from using public bus stops and pay into the existing public transit system,” “End corporate welfare and tax them/make them pay their fair share,” and “Bring back the public chess games.”

Have something to add to the list? Stop by the alley, check out the progress of the mural and pitch some solutions for all of the city’s shame.

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Molly is a multimedia journalist, editor, photographer and illustrator. She has contributed to dozens of publications, and most recently, served as Editor of the Pacific Sun. To view more of her work, visit mollyoleson.com.

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