Archive for March, 2009:
Has it come to jail time to wipe out graffiti?
Every time we turn on the television, look toward billboards in the sky, or open a magazine, we are bombarded with the art of the capitalist media. It is an aspect of our cultural life that can not be ignored. Yet when working class youth try to find their cultural voice in a society that is ever more alienating they are labled as criminals. Notice how a quote fraom the officer in the article below compares a graffiti writer to a dog lifting its leg.
Has it come to jail time to wipe out graffiti?
Like the city of San Francisco, North Beach resident Micki Jones is fighting a losing battle against graffiti.
“I paint it over and it is usually tagged again in 48 hours,” said Jones, who covers up graffiti on her home and other buildings on her block. “It used to be weeks, but now those guys are out there every night.”
When it comes to symbolic statements about a city, nothing speaks louder than the painted scrawls on walls. They say a neighborhood is either unwilling, or unable, to stop vandalism. Graffiti infuriates homeowners, degrades streets and undercuts civil pride.
And yet it happens over and over in San Francisco and has for years. How is that possible? The answers range from the economic downturn (less enforcement), to a lack of consequences (offenders aren’t taken seriously in the courts), to simple fatigue (why paint over the tags when they are back the next day?)
This isn’t a minor problem. The “broken window” theory continues to prove to be true. The theory says each broken window or graffiti tag is a test to see if anyone cares enough to fix it. San Francisco is failing the test.
“As soon as the first tag goes up all bets are off,” said Christopher Putz, the city’s graffiti abatement officer. “It’s like a dog lifting its leg. After the first one does it, every other dog has to tinkle there, too.”
Mohammed Nuru, deputy director of operations for the Department of Public Works, often hears from angry residents at community meetings, but it’s those who have given up on fighting graffiti that he remembers best.
“It is very hard to see some 75- or 80-year-old lady almost in tears because someone has vandalized her house and she can’t do anything about it,” Nuru said.
Public frustration has grown since a 2004 law made property owners responsible for cleaning up graffiti in 30 days or face a fine that could reach $500. Owners complained that it made the victims pay for the crime. Others said that the city ran out of money to pay attorneys to enforce the ordinance.
That’s not to say nothing is being done. Putz said that arrests are up this year and are likely to surpass 2008’s record total of 234. Complaints to the city’s 311 hot line have increased dramatically. And on April 23 the Graffiti Advisory Board - a 25-member group that includes residents, business leaders and city officials - will host a community meeting at the Hilton on Kearny Street to discuss new ways to fight the problem.
Still, it’s hard to disagree with Jones, who has been painting over graffiti in North Beach for 19 years.
“This is a beautiful city,” Jones said, “and it is getting trashed.”
Nuru, who lives in Bayview-Hunters Point, was incensed last week when a freeway sign near the entrance to his neighborhood was rendered unreadable by taggers.
“I totally lost it,” he said. “What I am suspecting is that the vandals are moving more in groups now. We have seen patterns of taggers going in groups to deface property.”
Putz, who has worked with graffiti abatement for over five years, doesn’t necessarily think there are more taggers nowadays. But he is frustrated with the lack of consequences for those who are caught literally red-handed.
“I’ve had kids tell me that they wouldn’t try it in Daly City because that’s San Mateo County and they are treated pretty harshly by the courts,” Putz said.
That’s seconded by Officer Troy Courtney, who was the city’s graffiti expert for seven years. Asked why some other cities, like Seattle, don’t seem to have much tagging, Courtney is blunt.
“You know why?” he asked. “Because in Seattle the first time you get caught you spend six months in jail.”
San Francisco taggers are more likely to get off with community service or probation. That’s a problem because, as is the case with other quality-of-life crimes, a small minority is causing a majority of the problems.
Putz has pushed for a single San Francisco judge to be assigned all graffiti cases so he or she could get familiar with the offenders. But, he said, “nobody wants to be the graffiti judge.”
And finally, there is a school of thought that believes this is art, not a public nuisance. Courtney said taggers come from all over the world to take photos of the San Francisco graffiti murals celebrated on Internet sites and in books.
“It’s like collecting baseball cards,” Courtney said.
For residents like Jones, that’s going to be tough to sell.
“I don’t care if you are Michelangelo,” she said. “If you don’t have permission to write on my building, don’t do it.”
Via:www.sfgate.com
The Mural as Mirror: Reflections on the Immigrant Experience - Open Studio
| March through April, take advantage of the opportunity to watch and engage with artists Carlos Hernandez Chavez and Marela Zacarias as they create murals in our large gallery that illuminate their own unique experiences of immigration and their intimate knowledge of the struggles and challenges of the immigrant community of Hartford in 2009. Then, on April 30, join us as we unveil these powerful works.Made possible with a grant from the Edward C & Ann T Roberts Foundation
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| Start Time: |
Friday, March 20, 2009 at 9:00am
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| End Time: |
Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 4:00pm
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| Location: |
Charter Oak Cultural Center
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| Street: |
21 Charter Oak Ave
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| City/Town: |
Hartford, CT
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| Phone: |
8602491207
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| Email: |
Move Over Phantom of the Opera
China plans a Karl Marx musical |
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A Chinese director is planning to stage a musical based on the founding text of communism, Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. The plot will revolve around a group of office employees who find out they are being exploited by their boss. China’s communist leaders still praise Karl Marx, although they now shy away from his economic theories. But those involved in the production say that Marx is still relevant today, particularly in a world gripped by an economic crisis. Good timing There will be singing and dancing in this stage version of the classic communist treatise, which is due to open in Shanghai next year. “We will bring [Marx's] economic theories to life in a trendy, interesting and educational play, which will be fun to watch,” director He Nian told the state-run China Daily. Those behind the project say this approach will help people understand what many consider a dry, philosophical text. But the producers promise they will not trivialise Marx’s central message. To make sure that does not happen, Zhang Jun, an economics professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, will act as an advisor on the production. “It seems good timing to do the play when the global economic crisis has become a key phrase in people’s lives,” he said. There are those who will wonder what relevance Marx has in modern China, whose leaders are more likely to talk about the free flow of capital rather than its corrosive affects. And no place epitomises this approach more than the modern, capitalist city of Shanghai. But director He said the money-driven city was a perfect place to stage the production, particularly now, with global capitalism coming under fire. “Whenever I have dinner with friends who work in offices, they talk about budget cuts and employee layoffs,” he said. |
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When the Government Bailsout the Poor its called Welfare but When the Government Bailsout the Rich its called a Stimulus Package
