Tuesday = News Day: Episode 14 – Paint the town red [and blue, green…]

This is a story from a while ago that caught my attention.

‘Make a city beautiful, curb corruption. Edi Rama took this deceptively simple path as mayor of Tirana, Albania, where he instilled pride in his citizens by transforming public spaces with colorful designs. With projects that put the people first, Rama decreased crime — and showed his citizens they could have faith in their leaders.’ 

If you have time to check out the TED talk that introduced me to him, check it out.

But if not, then simply read the article which talks about how this Albanian mayor brings art to politics. The colours on the buildings may not look so amazing in themselves [to me, anyways] but it’s when you see the new building held against the picture of the old one that you see just what a difference it makes and then when you hear/read the story you get an idea of how transformative this is.  Have a read.

‘Edi Rama has been in politics since the start of the 21st century, but before that he was a painter. It was this deep affinity for light and color that informed Rama’s time as mayor of Tirana, when he literally painted the town … every color. Rama is best known for the removal of government kiosks all over the city, thus cutting down on endemic bribery, and for the establishment of a modern new reception hall for citizens with paperwork requests. Rama’s administration also demolished thousands of illegal buildings, removed hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete from riverbanks, and planted thousands of trees and bushes all over the city. Rama continues to serve as a leader of the Socialist Party of Albania.’

He asked me for a compromise. I said, ‘No. Compromise in colour is grey. And we have enough grey to last for a lifetime.’ Edi Rama

[For last Tuesday’s Hey dude, Were’s my husband’s bike click here]