Graffiti

[basachs]

A little good news is that the swastikas and most of the other graffiti are finally out of Waterplace Park.

I am guessing that with the first Waterfire of the season this sat, that would have had to be done right?

[Jenkins]

I am guessing that with the first Waterfire of the season this sat, that would have had to be done right?

A bit off topic, but I was at Waterplace park Saturday night and two cops on bikes rode by. Nice to see.

[Cotuit]

A bit off topic, but I was at Waterplace park Saturday night and two cops on bikes rode by. Nice to see.

I saw bike patrol officers in there on Friday afternoon as well. The DID Yellow Jackets ride their bikes through too, though it is not technically part of their coverage area. The DID told me when the see vandalism they report it to the Parks Department.

[Frankie811]

Does anybody have any purple paint so I can repaint the wheelhouse on the Point Street Bridge myself...

It's quite an eyesore that is sure to catch the attention of anyone passing through the city on I-195...

Hmmmmmmm I see a lot of RISD kids making there way from College Hill to 15 West at 3-4am. I wonder what those crazy kids are out doing at that time of the morning.

[Sin5Cents]

I'm right there with you on this one. I even sent a letter to the mayor stating that I would paint the damn thing myself and I got no response. I don't know if they took me seriously, but I am serious about it. I'll be more than happy to paint it now and every single time some animal decides to put their mark on it. I hate graffiti more than anything. My question is where was the police during this operation? It took time to to that. No one noticed? No one happened to drive over the bridge while it was being done?

Well, maybe you and I should form ourselves into the Point Street Bridge Business Improvement District. I'm completely serious that I would gladly repaint this anytime it's defiled. The great thing about rapid repainting is that as soon as people see how quickly it gets painted over, most of them stop trying.

[Garris]

Isn't that a mystery? No one seems to see anybody, but graffiti continues to appear in very public places......

Being on-call for the hospital and driving in at times like 3 AM, trust me, the streets are soooo empty that I'm sure someone can paint for an hour or more before a car or person (to say nothing of a patrol car) passes... For these quick tags that take 30 seconds, I'm not at all surprised they are never seen...

My neighbor was talking to an officer and, apparently, they have some decent intelligence on some of these taggers but not discrete identities. He was saying that, for example, the "TEC" tag which is all over the East Side and Wayland Square is "The Elite Crew," which is apparently some "bored" students out of Moses Brown (he said they know this because they caught one who refused to give up the rest of the crew).

I remember reading in East Side or Providence Monthly last year that they caught one notorious tagger who was a high school student out of Barrington who was just tagging because it was something to do... The police apparently feel that some RISD students are involved as well, but I think RISD denies this.

Cotuit, has this ever come up at RISD that you've heard?

- Garris

[brick]

Cotuit, has this ever come up at RISD that you've heard?

Anyone who gets into RISD and then thinks that tagging is an appropriate method of expression should be kicked out into the street immediately with no refund because they obviously have no appreciate for art and are probably at RISD in the hopes that in twenty years they will be popular at parties because they slept in Seth Macfarlane's bed.

[Cotuit]

Cotuit, has this ever come up at RISD that you've heard?

There is a facilities person at RISD who has binders of photos of tags. He knows who a lot of the taggers are and has forwarded some of his information to PPD. Knowing who they are and proving who they are are two different things though.

I do not doubt that there are RISD students who are tagging, but I imagine the problems generated by RISD students are relatively minor. They really are far too busy to be out tagging stuff.

What would help at RISDs end, is to put the paint markers in an area that is visible by the cashiers at the RISD store, like right next to the counter. They seem to grow legs and walk away. Pearl Art Store in Cambridge takes the nozzles off all spray paint and you have to get the nozzle after you make your purchase, that way if the paint grows legs and walks out the store, it'll have a problem spraying. Although I've many times bought paint or adhesive and neglected to get the nozzle and have just been able to switch nozzles off another can.

[pdxstreetcar]

theres been graffiti all over the west portal of the bus tunnel for the last several months

[citybuilder]

i am not sure that Mayor's anti-graffiti task force thingy is still in effect. I'd call the Office of Neighborhood Services to make sure. That may be some old thing left over from the Buddy years.

Jen

The Anti-Graffiti patrol is still listed in the City Action Guide and the guide to City Services. Last I heard the Mayor talk about it, he said it does still exist but will focus on damage to public buildings/property/spaces. Don't have a sense as to how it is resourced, but I do know it takes forever, and repeated phone calls, to get tags removed from my kid's elementary school (MLK).

[magoldbe]

have you ever seen the ancient graffiti in rome? I think it's pretty cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti#Ancient_graffiti

Love it or hate it, it's a perennial urban "problem" I can see why people are upset by it, especially when it's on their own propery. But I think it's pretty awesome, a truly historical piece of urban life.

For example, I once saw viking graffiti in a neolithic tomb in Ireland. It was written in runes and something to the effect of "Helgar is a good lay" I crap you not. It was AMAZING and nobody is talking about powerwashing it away.

[Recchia]

have you ever seen the ancient graffiti in rome? I think it's pretty cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti#Ancient_graffiti

Love it or hate it, it's a perennial urban "problem" I can see why people are upset by it, especially when it's on their own propery. But I think it's pretty awesome, a truly historical piece of urban life.

For example, I once saw viking graffiti in a neolithic tomb in Ireland. It was written in runes and something to the effect of "Helgar is a good lay" I crap you not. It was AMAZING and nobody is talking about powerwashing it away.

I like good, artistic graffiti. Not the typical one-color tag crap though. At least make your tag colorful and color between the lines.

[runawayjim]

I like good, artistic graffiti. Not the typical one-color tag crap though. At least make your tag colorful and color between the lines.

agreed... i woudln't have a problem if the providence thugs could do nice graffitti, but the crap they do is just dumb. they probably spray their f*ck's and sh*t's and are like "hahaha, i just tagged waterplace park" and run away like the posers they are.

[magoldbe]

they probably spray their f*ck's and sh*t's and are like "hahaha, i just tagged waterplace park" and run away like the posers they are.

ha ha, yeah. it's pretty weak. but what do you expect, since they've cut art out of the public schools?

seriously, though, I think history teaches us that graffiti has been an indelible mark on the urban landscape as long as there have been cities. IMO there are way more important issues that city machinery should be dealing with.

btw, have you seen the subconsious art of graffiti removal?

http://www.tragicbliss.com/blog/archives/graffitiremoval.jpg

[Cotuit]

Grafitti is destruction of property, people should not be allowed to destroy others property or our common property. I expect the city to protect our common property from destruction.

[magoldbe]

Grafitti is destruction of property, people should not be allowed to destroy others property or our common property. I expect the city to protect our common property from destruction.

sure, sure. but in my neighborhood only about 18% of people own their own homes. Most of us pay rent to sketchy landlords. So when I see graffiti, I think "Right on! Lower property values means less rent for me to pay. Whee!" The aesthetics are an added benefit.

have you ever been to east berlin? they've got some seeerious graffiti yet they also manage to have socialized health care, a working public school system, and a quality of life that is generally higher than ours here in providence. go figure. the world is such a strange place.

why is urban planet harshing on a uniquely urban phenomenon that is over 1000 years old?

[Cotuit]

Cities have been recycling old areas and putting them to new uses for thousands of years too, yet some people come here to harsh about that as well.

[eltron]

sure, sure. but in my neighborhood only about 18% of people own their own homes. Most of us pay rent to sketchy landlords. So when I see graffiti, I think "Right on! Lower property values means less rent for me to pay. Whee!" The aesthetics are an added benefit.

have you ever been to east berlin? they've got some seeerious graffiti yet they also manage to have socialized health care, a working public school system, and a quality of life that is generally higher than ours here in providence. go figure. the world is such a strange place.

why is urban planet harshing on a uniquely urban phenomenon that is over 1000 years old?

lets not get carried away here...

there are plenty of fine examples of urban art, graffiti if you want, that is surely an asset to the community. SEAZ and his million bullsh*t tags all around the city on some really great buildings is not.

Its just a stupid pissing contest to see who can get their name in the funkiest, "coolest" place.

[magoldbe]

Cities have been recycling old areas and putting them to new uses for thousands of years too, yet some people come here to harsh about that as well.

Point taken. The cycles of investment and divestment, urban flight and influx, are old as well. Mills become apartments, apartments become condos, condos turn into slums and slums get paved over to make highways, but grafitti has been present for millenia. How cool is that? Even Pompeii, the ultimate in "urban blight" has legible graffiti preserved on its walls.

speaking of which, here is a list of inscriptions from that great, dead city:

http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Latin_Vul...i_Graffiti.html

"Myrtis bene felas"

m.

[Cotuit]

Well hopefully in a thousand years people won't judge the citizens of Providence by the Swatikas in our urban parks.

[Sin5Cents]

Since the majority of graffiti criminals are males, I always thought the easiest way for graffiti to go away was for the city to create a "has a small penis" stencil and add that to every new tag that goes up.

[magoldbe]

Since the majority of graffiti criminals are males, I always thought the easiest way for graffiti to go away was for the city to create a "has a small penis" stencil and add that to every new tag that goes up.

Now *that* is the kind of solution I can get behind. Creative, irreverent... I like it!

[AriPVD]

ha ha, yeah. it's pretty weak. but what do you expect, since they've cut art out of the public schools?

sure, sure. but in my neighborhood only about 18% of people own their own homes. Most of us pay rent to sketchy landlords. So when I see graffiti, I think "Right on! Lower property values means less rent for me to pay. Whee!" The aesthetics are an added benefit.

How can you desire both the lowest possible property values (resulting in a weakened property tax base) and a dynamic, intensive and well-funded school system? How does one pay for these expensive services?

[magoldbe]

How can you desire both the lowest possible property values (resulting in a weakened property tax base) and a dynamic, intensive and well-funded school system? How does one pay for these expensive services?

who says schools need to be funded by property taxes? seems to me like it's a pretty flawed policy. besides, the mayor has talked quite a bit about moving school funding away from property taxes. I heard him give a speech on it last winter at as220.

[AriPVD]

who says schools need to be funded by property taxes? seems to me like it's a pretty flawed policy. besides, the mayor has talked quite a bit about moving school funding away from property taxes. I heard him give a speech on it last winter at as220.

I agree, property tax school funding is a very flawed system. It all comes back to more federal involvement--the current system of passing down unfunded mandates to states (and the states in turn pass to cities) only increases the tensions in our local communities between the haves and have nots--a massive problem in Providence where the have nots outnumber the haves ten to one.