I find BILLBOARDS even uglier - huge, pervasive, intrusive, endless, ugly ugly ugly. Symbols of corporate arrogance and greed. Property-value destroying. An insult to the environment. An insult to citizens.
How beautiful it would be were they gone eradicated vanished. The problem is that the people behind them are not poor or young or powerless. It would be joyful to pass a law to fine their parents for their nature-effacing misdeeds. --David Shove Roseville On Tue, 18 Mar 2003, Chris Johnson wrote: > Conor Donnelly wrote: > > Michael Atherton wrote: > >>And, if you want to see how much graffiti can lower the quality > >>of our neighborhoods just try visiting some large cities on the > >>East or West coasts. > > > Please offer some specific examples of this claim. I understand that > > many people do not like seeing graffiti in their neighborhoods, some > > however do. It's a big stretch to assign a cause of "lower quality of > > life" to graffiti. Even a correlation with quality of life seems hard to > > come by in our city. > > Like Michael, I've lived in and visited other cities where there is a > lot more graffiti than here. Universally, areas with large amounts of > graffiti are run down, and often unsafe. > > It's no stretch to say it causes a lower quality of life. Although I > can't quote you chapter and verse from any study that you'd believe, the > fact is it is generally accepted that graffiti makes a neighborhood look > more welcome to the criminal element. In other words, large amounts of > graffiti make a neighborhood look like it is run down, neglected and > therefore a place where street criminals will less likely be harassed, > by police or residents. It looks like the residents don't care. Once > the street criminals move in then more crime follows. > > The "some" who do like seeing graffiti are an extremely tiny minority, > equivalent in size to the numbers of those who like things such as > shooting people they disagree with, pimping, complete anarchy, burning > down buildings for fun and profit. The day something you worked hard > and long for is vandalized by a tagger or other miscreant may be the day > you change your tune. > > > I see this as mainly an aesthetic issue, especially on public property. > > > > Conor Donnelly > > WaitePark > > Gosh, it's so aesthetic to see graffiti on street signs, power > pedestals, city vehicles, the backs of city bus seats, playground > equipment (my son today asked what one such tag said -- try explaining > an obscenity to a 2-year old), and park benches. 99.9% of the taggers > out there are not motivated by an artistic sense. > > The taxpayers own that public property, and the vast majority of us > don't want to see graffiti on it. > > Chris Johnson > Fulton > > > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. > 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
