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Posts Tagged ‘graffiti’

Is anyone reading the latest news about graffiti vandalism? The news is not good. Every day, Google sends me the results of a search on one word – graffiti. Today as I reviewed the news items in that search I realized things were not good for victims or for vandals. It worries me that we as a country might be ignoring or developing a social insensitivity to this problem again.  It does tend, like most things in life, to go through cycles.

Today the search reveals:

1. Accused top graffiti vandal arrested in Phoenix

2. North VGancouver RCMP Tag Graffiti Vandals

3. Police Make Arrest in Church Graffiti Spree

4. Teen Arrested in Connection with Racial Graffiti in Wales

5. Graffiti Spree in Central Park

6. Graffiti Artist (sic) Killed by D-Train (There is no such thing as a graffiti artist.)

7. Anti-Graffiti Lawyer Gets Message Spray Painted on HIs Building

8. From Mastadons to Graffiti

9. Teen’s Graffiti Causes $11,000 Worth of Damage to Property

10. Photo Mural Showcasing Humanity Defaced by Graffiti

The truths of graffiti vandalism are always evident in the news.

There is no honor among vandals. Graffiti vandals deface art and vandalism and claim to call it art. The difference, however, between graffiti and art is and always will be – PERMISSION.

Young vandals are still being killed pursuing their criminal thrills.

Community structures, including churches, are victims of senseless vandalism.

Racial and hate graffiti is always going to be used by cowards to make their point in shameful anonimity.

Vandals are ultimately arrested, convicted, and sentenced for their crimes.

Graffiti is still tied to archaeology to help us feel better about it. Obfuscations of vandalism still abound.

Is there still an anti-graffiti sentiment in our communities? Do our communities still have citizens cleaning up after the vandals, teaching our children to respect the property of another, and insisting on vandalism enforcement? It might be time to look at our communities to make sure we have not been taking these things for granted.

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.

VPT signed up to support the NoGraf Network for another year! As a member of NoGraf I’d like to thank Visual Pollution technologies for lending long-time sponsor of the NoGraf network. Please visit their website http://www.visualpollution.com for more information about their graffiti prevention products.

Need information about fighting the scourge of graffiti? Vandalism on your mind? Visit NoGraffiti.com.

Today I learned that that the man who called me coach died at age 70 of lung cancer.  James Powers, we all knew him as Jim died peacefully on March 23 in Rockford, Il. (His obituary is here.)

I met Jim on line in 1995. One day those many years ago he came across my Anti-Graffiti Web site and subscribed to the mailing list. We have corresponded off and on for some fourteen years sharing our interest

My coach, Jim Powers.

in the anti-graffiti cause. Jim was a long-time community activist in Rockford, giving far more than he ever took in return. He was that kind of guy.

When he found the Anti-Graffiti Web Page in 1995 Jim hung around extending his support and encouragement to graffiti victims, police officers, city and county abatement folks from around the world.  Jim is known internationally as an activist and a hero to the efforts directed at ending the tragedy of graffiti vandalism.

There were times, when as the Anti-Graffiti cause began to grow  I would get discouraged over things.  Jim wouldn’t have any of it.  He would always refer to me as “the coach” because so many people like us had gathered around the Anti-Graffiti Web Page and the NoGraf mailing list to battle vandalism in our communities. I would tell him I don’t deserve that title given his background but he insisted. For the fourteen years I knew him Jim called me coach.

In reality Jim was my coach. He also coached for the twenty-five years he was in the military, he coached as a father and a husband, he coached as a director and member  in the North End Square Neighborhood Association, he coached on the Rockford Fire and Police Commission, and he coached as a director of the Nograf Corporation.  Jim was indeed a community coach and Rockford named a nine-block stretch of Huffman Blvd. between Auburn St and Fulton Ave in his honor because of it.

I was clearly blessed to have Jim Powers as a friend and an ally all of these years. Even when I was finally forced by circumstances to minimize my involvement as Jim and Randy Campbell started NoGraffiti.com and the Nograf Corp, Jim stayed in touch. To him I was still the coach. Friends like Jim Powers are treasured and rare and Jim will always be my coach.

God bless you Jim and God bless your family and Rockford, Illinois at this time.

Jay Evenson of the Deseret News in the Salt Lake City area wrote an opinion against tagging he had recently seen on freeway signs and asked what others are doing about tagging: Jay Evensen’s perspectives on the news. He asked, “Anyone out there have a better idea for countering taggers?” I offered this advice:

Absolutely. Join the anti-graffiti movement. There are a few places you can go for more information. The best is NoGraffiti.com. NoGraf membership includes victims of graffiti, police, city, county, and corporations from around the world. Global unity against vandalism. Like you I was furious when in my own community I found gang graffiti everywhere. That was in 1995. My own website dougweb.com started the NoGraf mailing list which later grew into the Nograf Corporation under California Highway Patrol Officer (ret) Randy Campbell.

The best thing a community can do is to increase public awareness, be the eyes and ears of the police and report what is seen. The various jurisdictions need to abate the damage quickly and the media should NEVER publish pictures of the vandalism. That in itself is seen as a victory for the tagger.

Read the Anti-Graffiti FAQ at http://www.dougweb.com/faq.html

Oh, and do keep writing about vandalism. As odd as it may seem some communities are defining deviancy down by calling graffiti a “lifestyle crime.” Not much in the way of enforcement gets done because of the other priorities. Send someone from your community to TAG2009 in Victoria BC, Canada. You will learn a lot there.

“Art as civil disobedience is a long way from gang tagging territory as a way to threaten civil order and safety.”

“If graffiti was true civil disobedience the artists would chain themselves to their work until arrested, not run away.”

Linda Beth, two excellent views. Baby sisters rock!

ABC TV channel 7 in San Francisco did this video on urban art. This is a graffiti puff piece only describing graffiti as controversial. Legal art is blended with graffiti vandalism in order to show its beauty. This irresponsible waste of air time never went into the billions of dollars graffiti vandalism costs the nation annually. They didn’t visit other parts of the Bay Area where vandalism is a serious blight on communities. The anti-graffiti movement was in part born in 1995 in Pleasant Hill, CA just thirty-five miles East of San Francisco values. The anchors and even a well respected reporter drooled over the art and their interviewees. Disgusting.

When a news agency helps define vandalism down like this the entire community should be outraged. The story celebrated a picture book of vandalism photographs. The anchors acknowledged one of their interviewees did legitimate art and vandalism but to protect him would not show any of his crimes.

When you have a graffiti problem in your community you do not tolerate presentations like this on local media. I am very surprised this took place in San Francisco. When Willy Brown was mayor he took vandalism seriously. Early support for the anti-graffiti movement came directly from San Francisco Public Works and the police department. I hope things have not changed. My props go out to all of the San Francisco Bay Area anti-graffiti public groups trying to save communities from this blight and in particular the Pleasant Hill, CA Anti-Graffiti Program if it is still active.

See the video here. and then see how this pro-graffiti website uses the ABC7 video to glorify vandalism.

Graffiti by definition is illegal. The difference between graffiti and art is permission. ABC7 this was a colorful but irresponsible report. A complete waste of air time and I hope the community holds you accountable by writing the Federal Communications Commission and filing letters of complaint in your public access file.

A short article regarding two arrests of young adults in graffiti vandalism case. The article is weak in content. The names of the adult vandals was omitted as was any mention of the type of graffiti gang, hip hop etc.

Read the story here.

Read the rest of the story at etruth.com

Vandalism is now mainstream in Brooklyn. So much so that a store has opened specifically to sell spray paints and supplies to the criminals involved in the subculture. A local councilman is outraged. “If a community allows low level crimes (criminals know this) then the high level crimes follow.” The store owner of this graffiti supply shop should be denied membership in the local business association. This is a BIG error in personal judgment. An error that has devastating deleterious effects on the community.

See the MSNBC video here.

Great article in The Argus about the Adidas target audience in the UK. A revealing piece about 15-16 year old vandals and their lifestyle, motivations, and crimes. The Argus also left out the photographs which is the way to write about graffiti vandalism.

Read the whole story here.

Worlds First Mobile Art Guide for the iPhone Whoopee!

I stumbled across urbanartguide.com this evening. It looks like another example of corporate glorification of graffiti vandalism designed to sell shoes and promote the iPhone. Using iPhone software available March 20th you can express your originality by venturing out into derelict neighborhoods wearing your cool shoes and take pictures of your favorite vandalism. Even cooler you can mark it on a map.

Hey, perhaps this could all backfire on Adidas and be a new graffiti fighter’s tool for use with the new graffiti database products in use by police departments? One can hope.

Companies like this that glorify vandalism and the graffiti subculture are tragically enablers of global proportion. Enablers of global graffiti vandalism. Thanks to these copy-cat marketing tactics with no originality whatsoever American kids and European kids are encouraged to “celebrate originality” by visiting dangerous locations to take cell phone pictures of vandalism. Sickening.

The NoGraf board should take this one up at its next meeting. While we do so, members and others opposed to corporate glorification of vandalism might want to consider the purchase of a competing shoe.

Celebrate originality if you must. Looks like the big launch is in Berlin, Germany. I’ll miss the party.

(The Desert Sun 020809) A 26-year-old Cathedral City man was arrested on Friday on suspicion of felony vandalism in connection with numerous graffiti incidents in the area.

Congratulations to Cathedral City Police!

Read the whole story here.

(BBC News Sunday, March 8, 2009) – Children at a Bristol school have helped to cut vandalism and graffiti at their neighbourhood laundrette, by painting a mural at the premises.

A loud and long NoGraf Bravo to the kids at Bristol School!

Read the whole story at the BBC.

I do not recommend this. It does amplify the community outrage people are developing for gang related graffiti in Salinas, California. The Viestas would do better to monitor graffiti prone areas and provide intelligence to police. Police in California tend to be very pro-active against graffiti vandalism of all kinds. That was evident to me when I attended the NoGraf Conference in Santa Rosa, CA last year. I encourage the Viestas to cease this dangerous activity and work with Salinas Police.

Read the whole story at KSBW.com.

Blog entry at Ashvegas.squarespace.com regarding observations of vandalism and the environmental aftermath.

Read the whole story.

(Hackney Gazette – 030809) Some in this UK town think that a graffiti vandal that apparently earned some popularity in the UK has returned to vandalize public property. A reason for the graffiti may be because prior acts of Bansky vandalism were ordered removed by Hackney city leaders. Sad but true, the Hackney Gazette immortalized the vandal’s latest threat upon the community by publishing a photo of the vandalism with pro-graffiti activists (read that pro-vandalism activists) admiring the pretty picture. Remember the difference between graffiti and art is PERMISSION.

Read the article here.

A Twitter user that alerted me to the article doing a search on graffiti thinks that the Hackney council should be shot. “johnb78: “Hackey Council, along with every other curmudgeonly anti-graffiti-ist, should be shot: http://tinyurl.com/amr7sk”