Michael Atherton wrote:WM: The argument is, I think, that graffiti is, in and of itself, a deterioration of an area. Regardless of who tags what on my fence, it still is crud that spoils the brick posts. Since I'm the one who has to pay the bills and scrub the graffiti, I don't appreciate it.
CD:Let's just say that graffiti is a sign post on the road to deterioration. I've lived in four cities and have watched it occur in all of them.
I received an off-list reply to my post regarding graffiti which contained a Mpls Police Graffiti Task force Report from Sgt. Rick Duncan dated 1-6-2003.
This report contains maps of each precinct with dot symbols indicating graffiti incidents classified as either "tagger", "gang", or "unknown". These maps appear to confirm my suspicion that most tagger graffiti is concentrated in parts of the city that ARE NOT suffering decline and diminished quality of life. Lowry Hill East and surrounding Uptown areas contained 55% of all Mpls mapped tagger graffiti incidents between Oct and Dec 2002. I don't see boarded up buildings on Hennepin and Lyndale in the near future. In fact, these neighborhoods seem to be thriving, desirable places to own property and businesses. I'm not asserting that
graffiti is not a crime, or that it is not vandalism, or that is is not
annoying to you. Just remember that although you might not like looking
at graffiti, do not assume it warns of impending deterioration of our
city.
Graffiti is more expected in poorer neighborhoods because they are the neighborhoods which most often house the work addresses of gang bangers. It is gang bangers who mark territory with paint, feces and urine just as dogs do. Being the civilized creatures we are, we recognize that the Walker Sculpture Garden marks territory too, as does the IDS, city hall, government center, etc. The difference being that gang bangers mark other people's territories with their scent, much like the US is planning to do tonight in Iraq.
On an entirely sweeter note(s), I saw my lady cardinal for the first time this morning. She's looking so fine and trilling out her call of hello. How glorious.
WizardMarks, Central
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