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Clintonville Area Commissioner David Southan proposed to the University Area Commission a joint program to combat graffiti in the neighboring communities during April’s UAC meeting. Commissioner Southan has helped to raise $1500 reward money to be used in the prosecution and conviction of graffiti related crimes. The reward money has been granted successfully over the years to people who have reported on graffiti crimes in Clintonville, and it is being considered for expansion into the University District. “Commissioner Southan has always challenged us to look at new ways to tackle the growing problem of graffiti in the University District,” said UAC President Ian MacConnell. “I think his offer on a partnership across community lines is something we need to support.”
“Graffiti is a crime that undermines public safety and has a negative impact on our quality of life,” said CAC Commissioner Southan. “I believe we need to work together if we are going to be successful in addressing this crime.”
This would not be the first time representatives from both area commissions have worked together. Over the years Southan and MacConnell have testified in court on the impact graffiti has on a community, and as a result tougher sentences have been passed down to those who have been convicted. They have also worked with the University Area Enrichement Association’s Graffiti Abatement Project (GAP) to have convicted graffiti painters clean-up litter and graffiti in the adjoining communities.
“We are also considering raising funds for microgrants to help cover part of the expense related to large scale graffiti clean-ups,” said MacConnell. “Not only will we be in the court room to connect vandals to all of their tags for tougher sentencing, we want to help the victims as well.”
My pants are full!
As long as it gets cleaned up, I don’t care who paying for it. I’m happy something is being done about it. I’m all for getting rid of the junk advertising too.
if you want to vandalize or tag or spray something, spray your own house or garage or car. or buy canvas, or get the permission and do it right like with the ‘main bar’, I’m fine with all that.
If graffiti is invited, then it’s art. If it is paid, it’s advertising. If it’s neither, it’s disrespectful trash.
There was a HUGE discussion of this issue on Donewaiting a couple years ago (two threads, actually: http://tinyurl.com/dyny2v followed by http://tinyurl.com/cks7x4), and it covered a lot of the territory being covered here.
On a personal note, I think it goes without saying (I hope) that whoever went through the alleys of south-Clintonville writing “Boo” or “Roo” or whatever that says all over the garage doors, trash cans, and fences is not making any artistic contribution to my neighborhood. This is the difference between “graffiti” and “tagging,” yes? I’d have been kind of pleased with actual art back there, but this is just ugly and stupid.
Jon Meyers I checked out the old open book store location last night and my point of view is that the people writing on the windows are actually cleaning that space up. Selectively yes, but in fact they are cleaning the dirty windows by removing the dirt with what ever form of verbage they choose. I would say that yes I saw an identity or two that were graffiti names, but it was mostly people who wrote their names in the dirt on the windows. This really is not that big of a deal and actually has been a great form of graffiti that has evolved from these kinds of political discussions.
Check out this blog here for more info!
http://www.pnyv.org/index.php?id=34&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=891&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=560&cHash=08e2510365
people are really confused when it comes to the graffiti vs. art discussion.
Beat Street was over twenty years ago, and graffiti has become so commercialized it is played out. You may think you’re taking it to some new level when you spray paint your make believe name on someone’s home or business, but you are not. You’re just doing what dogs and gangs do, marking what you think is your territory. Here is some news for you, it is not yours, and what little part you think you took with a tag, we are taking it back. With people struggling just to pay their mortgage, how can anyone with conscious believe spray painting their garage, or even the dumpster behind their house is a good thing. You only add insult to injury when you call vandalism art.
I do believe that there should always be a gallery for your work to hang. I also believe that what once was cool, becomes passe, and soon your gallery will be a museum.
Ian- That statement comes from a very narrow minded point of view. Of course painting on someones house is wrong in the case where it is done against will. However i have seen some amazing paint jobs come from graffiti aesthetics. i wish I had the pictures from art in america. They covered a body of work created by artists in the areas destroyed by hurricane Katrina. In that case mother nature caused the destruction and the artists worked to beautify not only the aesthetics of the residents impacted, but also to lift the spirits of those people affected.
Yes in some cases and to certian people graffiti is simply gaining fame and getting your name out to the masses. However graffiti art is very different from that and is focused on the constant elevation of letters and letter styles. At the time of Beat street graffiti was in a very infant stage and was really confined to certian regions. Of couse we all know that true graffiti and social markings stem all the way from the cave man days and early communication where tools like paper and pencil were not available. So the only way to communicate and build a written language came from cave markings. Anyways graffiti is elevating itself not only from a social status, but also in aesthetics, tools, and intensitiy.
There are now many specific paint suppliers that make artist grade spray paint with dual pressure ability. The range of caps available offer line sizes from pencil thin to 15 inch widths. Galleries and Museums now have dedicated shows for graffiti art. Hell even Obama hored a graffiti artist for his campaign posters. That artist in turn is 100 times as famous as he already was for his art. Books and magazines dedicated to the art form almost exceede that of more traditional mediums like photography. Even clothing designers are using aesthetics for their brands and making huge sucesses out of it.
So to make the statement that Graffiti is Passe since beat street is a pathetic analysis that doesn’t show any research. I personally think you were into graffiti back when you first watched beat street and since have grown so close to graffiti that you now are like the bad cop from TV. That will fight crime because it keeps you close to graffiti and somehow by reclaiming the streets you perform you own kind of territory claiming.
I turly hope that in the end you get your seat on the senate or what ever your goals are. I just really hope that in the end you don’t get there by disrupting culture and making ignorant blanket statements to gain the popular vote. You may want to take a hint from Obama and hire me for your campaign efforts.
So Ian where is your point of view now? Graffiti is what? dead!
You make me laugh and the proof is in the pudding
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/arts/10iht-rcartgraff.html?_r=1