Graffiti

[Second_in_pie]

I think the sale of spray paint should be regulated as well as prohibited to minors. What uses do most people need it for anyway? Though I'm sure the brain-dead degenerates will find some other way to tag property, it may help with the ease in which they do it.

I'm also bitter because someone tagged the buildings at the end of my street (which had just been cleaned from a previous tagging). I swear if I ever catch them, they'll be coughing up spray paint for the rest of the night.

I use spraypaint to prime and paint models. Some people use spraypaint to touch up their cars and houses, or paint furniture.

And really, the only real problem with graffiti in general is simple tagging, just scrawling a name without providing any actual art. A much better solution would be to work around the whole graffiti culture, promoting the art and doing away with random tagging. Set up community art opportunities, places where graffiti artists can paint on walls to actually make the city more beautiful. Maybe even have graffiti workshops to build skills in artists so we can have nicer graffiti, encouraging people lower down to do away with random vandalistic tagging and aspire to great art. Graffiti could certainly make the city more beautiful if we didn't generalize all of it as "mindless vandalism."

btw, I actually quite like that sign on the Millwood bridge. I could imagine coming down to work in the morning, seeing that there, and having a great day because of it.

 

[EnviroTO]

And really, the only real problem with graffiti in general is simple tagging, just scrawling a name without providing any actual art.

No, the real problem is a lack of respect for property not owned by oneself. I don't care if it is art or not if they didn't have permission to put it there.

 

[Automation Gallery]

Rob Ford's graffiti crackdown doesn't end with Queen West

Rob Ford has been busy ticking off items on his campaign-promise checklist, obliterating taxes and revising transit expansion plans. But he also promised to scrub the city clean of graffiti, and it's this, of all his many pledges, that he's rapidly proving himself most able to tackle on an ongoing basis. OpenFile has learned that since December, when he took office, more notices of graffiti code violations have been issued in the downtown core than were issued there in the previous five years combined, according to publicly accessible data.

More........http://toronto.openfile.ca/blog/general/2011/rob-fords-graffiti-crackdown-doesnt-end-queen-west

 

[toto]

Rob Ford's graffiti crackdown doesn't end with Queen West

Rob Ford has been busy ticking off items on his campaign-promise checklist, obliterating taxes and revising transit expansion plans. But he also promised to scrub the city clean of graffiti, and it's this, of all his many pledges, that he's rapidly proving himself most able to tackle on an ongoing basis. OpenFile has learned that since December, when he took office, more notices of graffiti code violations have been issued in the downtown core than were issued there in the previous five years combined, according to publicly accessible data.

More........http://toronto.openfile.ca/blog/general/2011/rob-fords-graffiti-crackdown-doesnt-end-queen-west

Are notices of code violations accompanied with a cash fine? If they are, then this "war on graffiti" is just one of the ways the city has to cover the losses from the VRT and "war on Cars". And it will end up being quite lucrative, because it is endless, unless of course they start arresting the kids doing the painting. That would go over big. Making criminals of bored 15 year old kids.

 

[nfitz]

And it will end up being quite lucrative, because it is endless, unless of course they start arresting the kids doing the painting. That would go over big. Making criminals of bored 15 year old kids.

Jail might be excessive ... but if they were to tie the criminals legs together with chains and march them down the road to clean their vandalism off traffic signs, post boxes, and Bell pedestals that would work for me.

I suppose your one of the ones who said there was no point trying to clean off the New York subway trains ... and yet that has worked very well.

 

[Jonny5]

Hopefully we will someday live in a perfect world that is graffiti free. The clothes look a bit drab though.

[video=youtube;oDrYkwG6Tuo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDrYkwG6Tuo[/video]

 

[Torontovibe]

I'm keeping watch to see if Ford keeps his promise. I still say that postering is a much bigger problem but Ford told me that it's also part of his plan to clean up Toronto.

This video shows how postering has a much more degrading effect on the public realm.
[video=youtube;ddrFg_lrm84]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddrFg_lrm84[/video]
The graffiti isn't all that bad on Queen Street, it's mainly in the alleys and for the most part, it makes it more interesting.

 

[junctionist]

I really hope he'll respect the property owner and not target those who commissioned murals to discourage tagging. It's about time we acknowledge and do something about the issue, though. Our own "Graffiti Blasters" program might be an effective tool.

 

[Torontovibe]

Some of the graffiti is quite nice. It's the tagging and scribbling that are really ugly.

 

[cdr108]

I really hope he'll respect the property owner and not target those who commissioned murals to discourage tagging. It's about time we acknowledge and do something about the issue, though. Our own "Graffiti Blasters" program might be an effective tool.

a news episode on tv revealed that by-law officers issued tickets to the property owners of the graffitti'ed premises, and not the offenders.

to me, that is a total cash grab as taggers can/will graffitti the same area again, yet it's not the taggers that are being fined as it's easier to go after the owner.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Sort of related to graffiti art, if your interested in the subject check out the amazing "Exit Through the Gift Shop" (nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Documentary) directed by the legendary and illusive Banksy, now on Blu ray and DVD. It's an insanely deep and interesting film.
On Toronto graffiti, to my eyes it's mostly visual noise with some good stuff here and there but I see our biggest problem to be tagging and friggen' postering everywhere. Kudos to Ford for pursing this, I'm marginally impressed but will be more impressed when I see where we are with these problems come early or mid-summer. I think the war is on, and it's not going to be pleasant.

 

[archanfel]

Are notices of code violations accompanied with a cash fine? If they are, then this "war on graffiti" is just one of the ways the city has to cover the losses from the VRT and "war on Cars". And it will end up being quite lucrative, because it is endless, unless of course they start arresting the kids doing the painting. That would go over big. Making criminals of bored 15 year old kids.

Unless you teach them discipline when they were kids, when they reached 18, they would still be criminals.

Having said that, some of the drawings are very impressive (I doubt they were drawn by kids though since they are massive). It would be shame to remove them.

 

[CHAMMY]

I would like to way in on this issue because as a lifelong and proud Torontonian it also upsets me to see this vandalism everywhere. What I can say with certainty is that every urban problem we have now is a direct result of immigration policies of the last 40 years. Ever since Trudeau cut off immigration from Europe and opened it up to the WestIndies and Asia we are seeing all these problems, be it gun crime, litter, graffiti etc. A case in point the other day I was at a Timmies and saw 2 Asian men drinking coffee in the parking lot. As soon as they finished both coffee cups went on the ground even though the litter bin was 3 feet away. My blood was boiling and I said " Please pickup your cups and put them in the bin, you're dirtying the environment ". One of the guys said " If you think this is dirty you should see where I come from". I said " I dont care where you come from, I know where you are, please have some civic pride". They both looked at me as I picked up the cups and threw them in the bin. The people coming to our city now have no sense of civic pride and treat the city like visitors instead of residents.

 

[archanfel]

I would like to way in on this issue because as a lifelong and proud Torontonian it also upsets me to see this vandalism everywhere. What I can say with certainty is that every urban problem we have now is a direct result of immigration policies of the last 40 years. Ever since Trudeau cut off immigration from Europe and opened it up to the WestIndies and Asia we are seeing all these problems, be it gun crime, litter, graffiti etc. A case in point the other day I was at a Timmies and saw 2 Asian men drinking coffee in the parking lot. As soon as they finished both coffee cups went on the ground even though the litter bin was 3 feet away. My blood was boiling and I said " Please pickup your cups and put them in the bin, you're dirtying the environment ". One of the guys said " If you think this is dirty you should see where I come from". I said " I dont care where you come from, I know where you are, please have some civic pride". They both looked at me as I picked up the cups and threw them in the bin. The people coming to our city now have no sense of civic pride and treat the city like visitors instead of residents.

Funny you should say that, because I remember at one point, the Thames was overflown with human waste and the house of commons was almost abandoned. Before the Europeans came to Canada, there certainly wasn't any gun crimes or litter or graffiti or Toronto for that matter.

 

[toto]

I would like to way in on this issue because as a lifelong and proud Torontonian it also upsets me to see this vandalism everywhere. What I can say with certainty is that every urban problem we have now is a direct result of immigration policies of the last 40 years. Ever since Trudeau cut off immigration from Europe and opened it up to the WestIndies and Asia we are seeing all these problems, be it gun crime, litter, graffiti etc. A case in point the other day I was at a Timmies and saw 2 Asian men drinking coffee in the parking lot. As soon as they finished both coffee cups went on the ground even though the litter bin was 3 feet away. My blood was boiling and I said " Please pickup your cups and put them in the bin, you're dirtying the environment ". One of the guys said " If you think this is dirty you should see where I come from". I said " I dont care where you come from, I know where you are, please have some civic pride". They both looked at me as I picked up the cups and threw them in the bin. The people coming to our city now have no sense of civic pride and treat the city like visitors instead of residents.

Thank you for mentioning one of the real causes of litter. TIM HORTONS!! Add to this all of the other fast food, packaged goods, consumer products and of course there will be more litter today, than there was in the 50's. I grew up in Toronto in the 60's and there was plenty of youth vandalism that was far more destructive than graffiti is today. A favourite youthful act was throwing rocks through school windows. Another fun activity was hoping on to the back of a streetcar and disabling it by yanking off its connection to the power line. Setting fires in laneways was pretty common. I recently ran into a friend from the old neighbourhood, Leslieville. He filled me in on what happened in the hood after I moved out at the age of 12. Three of my childhood friends never made it to 30. Two others have been in and out of prison their whole life and many never finished highschool and spent their life, gainfully unemployed. Most of them were from immigrant families. None were asian or from the westIndies. They were Irish, Scotish, Italian, German and Greek.

Fines and criminalizing graffiti, will not solve the problem. Providing alternatives to boredom goes along way from keeping kids off of the streets. That used to be the roll of community centres and still is to a degree. Unfortunately, many of the activities in these centres were discontinued or started costing money. It's a no brainer, if you give kids something to do, most of them will do it. Take it away and they'll find their own ways of entertaining themselves.

Civic pride comes from the top down. If the city disrespects you, you'll disrespects it.