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.
Mr. Donnelly confuses correlation with causality, a common mistake. I recommend spending the time necessary to clearly undestand the difference, as it's a frequent problem when people are arguing.
This report lends just about zero credence to an argument that says graffiti does not help lead to greater crime in areas plagued with graffiti. I lived in Uptown and I have friends who live in Lowry Hill; I'm very familiar with those neighborhoods. There a dozens of factors that affect the amount of tagging there and the amount of crime there. One factor alone, more tagging, is not going to overwhelm the rest of them.
One reason there is more tagging in those areas is because of visibility. Most taggers aren't interested in tagging a wall in some remote, isolated location where no one will ever see it. They want people to see it, so that they can feel they've made their mark. Taggers are "peeing on the bushes" like dogs, to prove they are somebody, to prove they've been somewhere, and to show everyone else that they have.
A second reason for greater tagging in those areas is because they have a huge number of transients. On any given weekend, you could round up everybody on the street in Uptown, and only 10% of them would be from that or the adjoining neighborhoods. In fact, the majority would probably be from the suburbs.
As for crime, the Uptown neighborhoods have some of the higher over-all crime rates in Minneapolis. Fortunately for life and limb, the vast majority of those crimes are things like theft from auto, smash and grab, shoplifting, etc., again because of the large number of visitors.
Why are there not boarded up buildings? Because property owners and the city have made huge efforts, over the past 20 or so years and continuing to this day, to improve the neighborhoods. They've spent lots of money fixing them up, even going so far as to spend NRP money on GRAFFITI REMOVAL. There *were* boarded up buildings in Uptown in 1980. There were boarded up buildings on Lyndale in the 1990s.
Allowing gangbangers, taggers and other graffiti artists to freely vandalize one's neighborhood is just asking for trouble. Frankly, I'd like to see graffiti and other forms of vandalism become felonies as soon as they cause $500 in damage.
Chris Johnson Fulton
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