Valentine, center, with RUPCO staffers
and the SWAK rack
KINGSTON – A locally designed bicycle rack is installed at the Lace Mill on Cornell Street in Kingston. The design, the shape of smiling lips, was created by Buddy Valentine of Kingston.
A competition was held last year to design the three bike racks to be installed along Cornell Street as part of the Midtown Shared Streets project on the Kingston Greenline.
“When I was a kid in the suburbs of Chicago and we’d drive into the big city, there was this giant sign shaped as a pair of red lips,” said Valentine. “It was along the highway as you approached the urban areas, for me a beacon of big, big dreams.”
Valentine said her dream for the SWAK (sealed with a kiss) murals she has created with O+ and this new bike rack project is that they will “ignite excitement and big dreams in the same way, intriguing kids and adults alike about Kingston’s awesomeness.”
