Massive mural of male genitalia on the roof of a Colorado Springs business will likely be covered up soon

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – After the story of a massive mural on the roof of a Colorado Springs business depicting more than a dozen images of personified male genitalia went viral, it appears the neighborly dispute has been resolved.

11 News was the first to report the obscene mural painted on the roof of Fallen Heroes Tattoo and Piercing aimed at a neighboring apartment complex. The business is located east of the Old Colorado City area and the owner says that many of his customers’ cars have been towed in recent months by the neighboring apartment complex.

There are signs posted between the apartment complex and the business stating the lot is private and requires a permit to park there, but the signage isn’t clear on the side of the apartment complex. But for anyone visiting the area for the first time, it could be confusing because there is no signage on the east side of the parking lot that sits right next to the tattoo shop. The lot belongs to the apartment complex, but that tattoo shop doesn’t want to hang signs on a different pre-existing mural to make that clear.

The owner of the tattoo shop had a mural painted on the roof of his business showcasing cartoon-style male genitalia doing activities such as driving a car and riding in a hot air balloon. WARNING, GRAPHIC IMAGES: You can see an unblurred version of the mural by clicking here.

On Friday, the owner of the tattoo shop told 11 News they are now communicating with the property management company about the mural, along with the parking situation, and it appears the situation has been resolved. 11 News received the updates from David Brown, the business owner, but has yet to hear from the property management company of the apartment complex on the alleged resolution.

Brown told 11 News if the apartment complex simply marked the spots as private parking on the asphalt, the issue would be resolved.

The following are conversations shared with 11 News from Brown:

Brown shared the response from an apparent representative of the apartment complex:

The communication continued and it appears the property management company will be marking the individual spots as private parking and Brown is expected to paint over the mural with an elastomeric paint they have ordered.

A timeline for when the parking spots will be marked and when the mural will be painted over was not available.

11 News has not heard from a representative with the property management company for the apartment complex since the first story aired despite reaching out to multiple contacts.

ORIGINAL STORY PUBLISHED 10/26/24:

Parking disputes aren’t out of the normal, but the reaction from one Colorado Springs business owner is gaining a lot of attention online and sparking some controversy.

WARNING: Some details in this article may be considered offensive given the nature of the mural. An unedited version of the obscene mural can be viewed in a link at the bottom of this article.

The owner of Fallen Heroes Tattoo & Piercing, David Brown, says the issues with a neighboring apartment complex started several months ago. His business is located just east of Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs. Right next to Brown’s business is a five-story apartment complex. The parking situation isn’t ideal for the complex or Brown’s business, with a small lot behind multiple businesses Brown shares the building with and a few street spots off Colorado Avenue.

There is an alley between the two buildings, but the parking spots right up against the west side of Fallen Heroes, belong to the apartment complex and are permit parking only. There are signs on the apartment complex’s side saying the lot is private parking with permits only, but no signs on the Fallen Heroes building. Employees say they don’t want to hang signs over a pre-existing mural that advertises their shop.

Brown claims that over the course of about four months, 30 to 40 of his customers had their vehicles towed from the lot that has private parking signs, but not on the side next to Brown’s building.

Brown believes the apartment complex could do more to prevent the towing.

In response to allegations the apartment complex next door was responsible for the towing, Brown had a massive mural of male genitalia painted on his roof and posted the process on Instagram.

“A new apartment complex just opened up next door to the shop. They’ve been towing all of our customers’ vehicles along with other customers from nearby businesses, we tried to play fair, but now we’ll fight back with a d*** mural,” Brown posted in the social media video.

Several residents of the apartment complex 11 News spoke to didn’t even know the purpose behind the mural.

“It was disturbing,” one anonymous resident explained. “I don’t have kids or anything, I’m 40 years old. but even just me as an adult, I don’t want to look out my window, I have a beautiful view of downtown since I’m on the east side.”

The mural is a cartoon-style personifying the male genitalia. There are more than a dozen of these genitalia on the roof, one riding a hot air balloon, another on a bike and a coupe driving cars. KKTV 11 News is choosing to not share some other obscene details in the mural, but an unedited version can be viewed by accessing a link in the bottom of this article.

“I can understand the confusion of people parking right next to the building,” Brown said. “It would make sense to me, the spots look like they are part of the building. With no lettering in the spots or anything like that. I can’t fault anybody that would accidentally park there for either location.”

Brown isn’t faulting the tow company and says he understands they have a job to do.

There is a fairly new Colorado law when it comes to “nonconsensual” vehicle towing. According to the law, tow companies are now required to provide 24 hours notice prior to towing a vehicle from residential private properties, but a vehicle may be towed immediately and without notice in the following situations:

• The residential lot requires a parking permit but the vehicle does not have it or the permit is not visible or valid.
• The vehicle is parked in a fire lane or another person’s designated parking space.
• The vehicle blocks a driveway or a roadway.
• Among other new requirements, a towing carrier must release a vehicle if the owner of the vehicle pays the lesser of 15% of the total fees or $60, and agrees to pay the remaining balance at a later date. Towing carriers are also required to release a vehicle at no charge upon request if it is still located on the private property where it was parked.

The tow company that represents the apartment complex is following the law based on the fact this lot requires permits.

When asked why the employees at Fallen Heroes don’t tell their customers about the private lot when they enter the store, they explained that the way their shop runs they don’t always get the opportunity to.

A representative with the property management company for the apartment complex sent KKTV 11 News the following message over text:

“Graffiti

At this time, we don’t have much to comment on regarding the situation at 532. We are actively working with code enforcement and the city to address the matter. It’s important to note that the parking lot between Fallen Heroes and 532 is private property, owned by 532, and is reserved for permit parking for its residents. The neighboring building does not have legal access to this lot.”

Konrad Lipka with Boardwalk Property”

“If the spots were labeled individually, I think we would have zero issue,” Brown added.

11 News is trying to connect Lipka with Brown. Brown says the controversy could be settled if the apartment complex marks the parking spots with paint.

11 News had follow-up questions for Lipka, but we haven’t received a response since we sent the questions out on Wednesday.

WARNING GRAPHIC:

Click here to view the original Instagram post showing the mural unblurred.

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