We regret to inform you that Parsippany Township officials forced

us to paint over our mural under the threat of stiff fines and jail time.

The mural was painted white on April 10, 2010.

The infamous Pat Thai Restaurant "Graffiti Mural" - Art by Daiji at GlossBlack / Painless Windows MP3 music track courtesy of Evermix / Music performed by Scott Raposa and Ken Struck

They see a mural and they want to paint it white.

No colors anymore they want it to turn white.

Parsippany Township officials, along with our landlord, collaborated to force us to remove the mural under the threat of violations, stiff fines, and possible jail time. They literally snuck up on us during a

busy lunch hour and called us outside in order to have our landlord tell us in person that he would not give us permission to have the mural.

Under Parsippany zoning regulations, you need written permission from your landlord in order to

paint an exterior wall outside the standard white, eggshell, beige, almond, or alabaster.

Parsippany officials first informed us that this was a zoning issue, after Parsippany Police Captain Michael

Kennedy complained that the mural "would entice kids to do graffiti". Later, the story changed and it became

a graffiti issue because I informed officials that we would pursue obtaining a variance for the mural.

Let's not pull any punches. This is simply about power and control.

Our Tax Dollars at Work!

Pictured from left to right, Parsippany Township Zoning Officer Jennifer Collins, our landlord Edward Mosberg, Assistant Zoning Officer Robert Pizza,

and Parsippany Police Captain Michael Kennedy. Just several of Parsippany Township's "civil servants", which have nothing better to do on a Tuesday

afternoon than harass honest, hard-working tax payers about an artistic project...and they do this without any shame at all.

After the Whitewash...

Yes! This looks much better - only if you're a small town bureaucrat.

Art Can Be Threatening

Pat Thai Restaurant in Parsippany, NJ hired a local artist to paint a huge mural to capture the attention of drivers and pedestrians that travel to and from Volunteers Park, which borders the rear property line of their restaurant. The only vehicular exit for the park spills out to the rear of their building, which makes the artwork a key tool for generating visibility for a business that is partially hidden due to being set back over five hundred feet from the street.

The owner, Pat Sanshompoo, was told that at least half a dozen people came inside the restaurant to notify employees that "somebody" was putting "graffiti" on our rear exterior wall. One of these good Samaritans was a Parsippany Township police officer, which asked to speak with the owner. Pat and her husband Jerry were not there at the time, so the headwaiter assured the officer that the work was authorized.

Pat was on vacation when all this was happening. When she returned, there was a certified letter from the Parsippany Zoning Dept. waiting for her at the post office. The letter referred to the wall mural as sign, stating that we were in violation of zoning ordinance # 430-278 and had two days to "correct" this violation, otherwise we face imprisonment for any term not exceeding 90 days or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or both. Pat called the Zoning Department right away and they assured her that the fine and imprisonment is noted as a warning to any potential scofflaws. A couple days later Jerry met with Jennifer Collins, Parsippany's Zoning Officer. Jerry met with Jennifer before, and she was once again very helpful. She explained that businesses within the Township are allowed to have only one sign on their building, and in order to keep the mural, they would either have to seek a costly variance via an appeal to The Board of Adjustment, or modify the mural so that it did not include any lettering, because any lettering on a building's exterior designates it a sign.

There was a twist to all this...the drama began because news of our mural was reported to some of the brass at the Parsippany Township Police Department, which resulted in the letter we received from the Zoning Department. It seems that some of the police officers expressed concern about the mural..."that it could give some of the area youth ideas". Jerry thought about that for a few seconds and said to the township officials, "you mean these kids might consider taking an art class next semester?" The police are actually concerned that the presence of our wall mural may entice local kids to do graffiti.

A Creative Mind is a terrible thing to waste - Support the Arts!

Call or emal us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you wish to collaborate on an artistic endeavor.