Faster, better…

I get the occasional request from college students, Internet magazines, and once in a great while the new media to speak about graffiti vandalism. Most I refer to the Director of the NoGraf Corp., Randy Campbell who is in a much better place statistically to discuss current issues.

The other day I received an email request from a Yahoo email account. The student was in a two-day rush to complete a story on what sound like a pro-graffiti event recently held in the San Francisco Bay Area. The student used the Fox News line, to keep the story “fair and balanced.”

Most of the requests I get are intended as harassment. News outlets use real email accounts that identify who they are, provide telephone numbers, give themselves time to write a story, and schedule an interview. I tried to be polite:

I am a 1983 BCA gradudate of SFSU. Never once have I had an interview from a student of SFSU but at least one or more so-called “professors” have spoken very poorly of me on their public website without ever having actually met me. So I’m not enthusiastic about interviewing. The NoGraf Network and graffiti victims are usually labeled as racists, right wing whackos, idiots, and haters by those that promote vandalism in our communities anyway and my interviews have almost always been used to stir the pot against the anti-graffiti movement. (e.g. taken out of content)

I guess all I can say is that San Francisco is a victim community with a very serious graffiti problem. I suggest that you visit your Department of Public Works, the police, a graffiti victim or two. Much of what I believe is located at the Anti-Graffiti FAQ at http://www.dougweb.com/faq.html. My efforts are now focused on helping the NoGraf Corp at http://www.nograffiti.com in any way I can as a Director of that non-profit.

Because of the various threats I have received over the years I also have to ignore emails from the free and anonymous email services like yahoo or gmail. If you had had time to send a request on school letterhead I may have considered a response. Since I have absolutely no way of determining who you really are I must respectfully decline. It appears you may have left the other side of the story to the last minute anyway so how could you do it justice?

Regards,
Doug Smith

——————

Had this person done his homework he would have found many in the San Francisco community to be against vandalism of all kinds. The police, homes associations, churches and so on. I had the great privilege once to be invited as a guest to a news conference where then Mayor Willie Brown spoke eloquently against graffiti vandalism. He and I were on opposite sides of some political issues but I always found him to be rooted in common sense when it came to the image of his city adn the safety of neighborhoods. The San Francisco Department of Public Works has always been and remains to this day one of the most forward thinking city departments when it comes to graffiti abatement and the quality of the neighborhoods. The trouble has been that the number and persistence of the vandals in that part of California has always been a challenge for any anti-graffiti movement. The vandalism is encouraged by bizarre opinions of far-left students and some educators and groups that have been taken in by the promises of vandals to use only regulated walls.

Other great anti-graffiti cities exist in the SF Bay area. San Jose comes to mind. MY associations in the past with city employees and volunteers in San Jose from the abatement crews to gang interventionists have always been positive. San Jose city government always did its best to battle vandalism.

I had been away away from California for seven years when I went back for a visit in 2008. What I did see there was that vandals are more prolific and abatement on State property…Well I have to be careful here. I saw a lot of vandalism on State freeways, signs, and over passes. I can’t speak to the effectiveness of the abatement programs.It was extremely sad to see.

What I do know is that the City of Santa Rosa, California took the lead in 2008 and sponsored an Anti-Graffiti Conference with the NoGraf Corp (of which I am a Director.) Now I am particularly proud of that department because of their long-time anti-graffiti efforts and because my best friend was an officer there for many years. SPD is a superb police department. SPD rocks!

No, it wouldn’t have taken much for this probably pro-graffiti student to discover there is much more to interviewing one person to be fair and balanced when writing about an event that may have glorified vandalism. So to all of you young aspiring journalism students, take it from a former BCA grad. Do your homework, use more than the Internet to get your story and start writing weeks before your deadline.

Hats off to graffiti fighters everywhere especially the abatement volunteers. America’s unsung community heroes. Through your persistence cities and towns learn to remain vigilant.

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