Mural appears over graffiti on side of Downtown Tire in Cedar Rapids

UPDATE: The mural will be allowed to stay. The City of Cedar Rapids clarified the city code, which requires businesses paint over graffiti but allows murals with the permission of the building owner.

CEDAR RAPIDS - Downtown Tire workers got a surprise when they went to work on Thursday morning. On the north wall, which faces an alley in the alley running parallel to First Avenue, they found a mural that stands about nine feet tall and portrays the 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

It was painted by an anonymous artists and covers up graffiti and gang signs that had been put up days before.

The owner of Downtown Tire, Joshua Collingwood, says he and his workers are not upset about the mural, 'It's a piece of art, it's really neat, neat to see it because you don't see much of that stuff in downtown Cedar Rapids.”

City code will require them to remove the graffiti eventually, but Collingwood says they will wait before painting over it so people can enjoy the mural.