Residents of the Star Motel have started to paint murals on the property in Kissimmee, as a protest of Osceola County boarding it up. The property was fenced in after the county found it unsafe to live there.
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Photo: Danielle Prieur[/caption]
About ten panels have been painted over with phrases like “Do our lives matter?” and “We are here, We have rights.”
Owner Teena Conley says she’s planning on meeting with the county on Jan. 11 to talk about the future of the property. She says this art is their statement for now.
“They're closing down the Banyan. They closed down all these little hotels. I’m the only one standing fighting.”
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But she says she's getting frustrated with the lack of empathy for low-income renters in the area.
“Everybody else is, 'oh, don’t worry we’ll just close down.' What do we do for housing? What do we do for the locals? So do I stay here or do I go?”
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The county did not respond to a request for comment on the future of the Star Motel. Code enforcement officials drove past today, but haven’t painted over the boards.
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Photo: Danielle Prieur[/caption]
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