An elementary school in Albuquerque, New Mexico was the target of a graffiti attack over night. The extensive black spray paint graffiti covered multiple walls and is expected to cost the School District thousands of dollars to clean up.
With school budgets stretched thin, the dollars spent to remove graffiti are reallocated from another priorities. Perhaps a vacant building or some other blighted structure is fair game for graffiti, but tagging on schools, or for that matter, churches, parks, and community centers is vandalism. No matter how good the "street art" is, the costs for removal is real and drain funds away from much needed improvements and maintenance.
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In South Haven Michigan, local authorities and the FBI are investigating multiple swastikas that were spray painted at a Jewish Summer Camp on a variety of surfaces including a car, a sign, a building and picnic table.
Can it be just a coincidence of the choice of a swastika and its location on Jewish Camp? What is the limit of free speech and where do we as a society draw the line. Is this an artist expression or a targeted hate crime? At least there were no physical attacks or injuries, but is their a relationship? Gang violence and gang graffiti go hand in hand. And the swastika symbol is one that clearly communicates hate, intolerance and violence. Gary Youth Leadership Council and Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson are taking steps to organize motivated volunteers to remove graffiti in Gary, Indiana. The group of student volunteers, primarily between 12 and 18 year old, has quadrupled in size since it was first formed. This is a highly motivated group hoping to make a positive impact on their community
"We are improving Gary little by little," said Samantha Brooks, aged 14. "And I think we can really make a comeback." More at nwitimes.com Pawtucket, Rhode Island - After a rash of recent graffiti tagging that has blighted buildings in the industrial districts and other neighborhoods, the City's Department of Public Works devised a multi-pronged strategy to identify, track and map graffiti incidents.
According to detective Edward Berube, "if it’s not removed quickly, it sends a message that it can fester … . The objective is identifying new graffiti, quickly removing it and using the documentation” More at ProvidenceJournal.Com Flagstaff, Arizona - The City of Flagstaff Arizona is fed up with graffiti tagging. Without a city funded graffiti abatement program, the City is organizing volunteers to help remove graffiti. A small core of dedicated volunteers is already making an impact and more volunteers are applying daily.
"We'll try to keep this going for years by using volunteers instead of the spotty coverage we've done using dedicated groups. "We're purposely going slow. We're not trying to sign up 700 volunteers in one week. We're looking to grow responsibly, said Code Compliance Officer Tom Boughner More at AZDailySun.com Salt Lake City, Utah - A North Salt Lake graffiti tagger was arrested after police detectives were able to match graffiti tags with 150 photos of graffiti tags posted on the taggers's facebook page.
"As a graffiti artist, it appears that he was pretty proud of his work,” Gwilliam said, "They want to be recognized to a certain extent for their work. They are, generally speaking, very proud of what they do." More at Deseret News Bellville, Illinois - A new proposed ordinance requires property owners to be responsible for removing graffiti on their property within 14 days of notice by county officials with a fine of $75 to $750 a day for each day the graffiti remains.
More at KMOV.com St. Louis Santa Barbara, California - After a four month investigation and good of detective work, Santa Barbara law enforcement were able to identify and arrest a graffiti tagger. He has been sentanced to 180 days in jail for his graffiti damage. Success is due to the detective assigned to the investigation who had experience with gang related issues.
More at Santa Barbara Independent Chicag, Illinois - Five additional graffiti abatement officers were hired by the City of Chicago's Graffiti Blasters to combat graffiti. An additional 7,400 tags have been removed since the hiring of the new crew. Graffiti Blaster was started in 1993 by Mayor Daley to address the graffiti problem.
More at ABC7 News Chicago Tucson, Arizona - Mario Figueroa is a man on a mission. This 62-year old spends his time cleaning up graffiti from his Tucson neighborhood. The City of Tucson spends approximately $750,000 abating graffiti.
Tucson Officer Stephanie Brown estimates that most of the taggers are 14 or 15 years old. Spray paint is readily available depite a Tucson city ordinance which prohibits spray paint to minors, According to Tucson City Spokesman Michael Graham says, "When you're spending three-quarters of a million dollars to eradicate graffiti, I'd say we have a pretty big problem out there." "That's money that, from the general fund, that could have been used to improve city parks, or other city infrastructure. instead, that's going for graffiti abatement." More at News 4 Tucson |
AuthorFrom Clean City Innovation Graffiti Watch Archives
August 2015
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