West Park’s public art portfolio may be expanding.
A July 1 Far West Design Review District agenda listed a proposed Destination Cleveland mural for 14901 Puritas Avenue, with the project categorized as public art and marked for final approval before moving on to the City Planning Commission process. The project site sits in the Bellaire-Puritas area, giving West Park another reason to pay attention to what is appearing on its walls.
But West Park already has one of Cleveland’s most visible mural landmarks.
At the corner of Puritas Avenue and West 161st Street, the mural “More Alike Than Different” stretches across an industrial corridor with a message much larger than paint. Local and official coverage has described the original mural as a 30,000-square-foot public art project celebrating people with different abilities. Sources have also noted it as the largest permanent mural of its kind in Ohio and among the largest in the country.
The West Park Times first encountered artist Garrett Weider’s work in 2021, when the mural project was just getting underway. At the time, WPT reported that the mural’s theme was “More Alike Than Different” and that the project would celebrate inclusivity, particularly for people with disabilities, with Weider painting the mural with help from the community.
The finished work became more than a colorful wall. News 5 Cleveland reported that the mural included more than 50 panels, each measuring 4 feet by 10 feet, and that it was unveiled on Cleveland’s Down Syndrome Day in 2021. The mural brought together more than a dozen groups and was primarily painted by individuals with different abilities.
Cleveland City Council later described the mural as a project originally brought together through a coalition of local organizations and designed by local artists Garrett Weider and Mike Geeze. Council coverage of the mural’s Phase II expansion said the project continues its mission of highlighting and celebrating individuals with different abilities.
The 2026 version of that program seeks three new mural designs across Cleveland neighborhoods, with installations expected by September 2026. The program materials say locations are identified through partnerships with neighborhood CDCs and Cleveland City Council representatives.
That combination may be what makes the mural feel so different from a standard beautification project. Yes, it is large. Yes, it is colorful. Yes, it transforms a highly visible wall. But the point of the mural is not only what people see from the road. It is who the mural makes visible.
The West Park Times previously featured The Wash House & Cafe as a neighborhood business built around making an everyday errand feel more welcoming, social, and comfortable. It also features a giant wall-sized Weider mural inside and pictured below. That kind of local business setting is part of the same broader public-art conversation: art does not only belong in galleries, museums, or downtown districts. It can show up in laundromats, cafes, commercial corridors, and long-overlooked corners.
West Park is not usually treated as one of Cleveland’s obvious public-art destinations. But between “More Alike Than Different,” interior neighborhood art seen in local businesses such as The Wash House & Cafe, and now a proposed Destination Cleveland mural on Puritas, a fuller picture begins to emerge: West Park has walls with stories on them.