Toronto's graffiti makes for poor behaviour

[Glen]

What is really sad is that I was watching Anthony Bourdain's show when he travelled to Columbia, and noticed how clean the streets were.

A Colombian visiting parts of Toronto would feel as though they came to the third world.

 

[junctionist]

I think you'd have to spend some time in Columbia, and learn the inside outs of its cities before you could make any comparison. You could make a video that could make this city look like it was run by the Swiss.

 

[Mystic Point]

I like graffiti. It adds an interesting dimension to an otherwise incredibly ugly city. Somehow it personalizes things. And it says " amidst this massive eyesore, live human beings. "

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Just curious as to what other types of criminal activity you find "interesting" and "personalizing".

 

[junctionist]

How queer a perspective that scribbles and costly property crime can be appreciated as the saving grace of the city. This attitude supposes that all those Victorian neighbourhoods, historic retail areas, parks, squares, landmarks, the financial district skyscrapers, universities and greenish suburbs make for an "incredibly ugly city".

 

[adma]

I like graffiti. It adds an interesting dimension to an otherwise incredibly ugly city. Somehow it personalizes things. And it says " amidst this massive eyesore, live human beings. "

Even when it defaces precious old painted advertising? Graffitiists (well, of the tagging sort at least) can be clods, too...

 

[Whoaccio]

I like some graffiti. I think it is clear that some people do actually put time and effort into what they do (even if it is illegal) and take it seriously. In certain cases, I think it can enhance a neighborhood. Also, depending on the colors and patterns used it can often brighten up some of Toronto's grayer areas (and lord knows this city loves that color). It can enhance more than pseudo punk areas as well. Just as an example, along Duplex St. north of Eglinton, some guy did up his garage door to look as if he had a Bentley. It's small, obviously, but it does personalize things a bit and provide a bit of variety. I think it is important to distinguish between what for lack of a better term can be called art-graffiti and punks just tagging a restaurant. That I have no sympathy for and succeeds in making any neighborhood look downtrodden and dead.

So, as I see it, the goal shouldn't be to try to eliminate graffiti and turn Toronto into Singapore North America but to just try to eliminate the tagging and like and promote the more arty variety. Work with landlords to see if wall space could be converted to mural space. Have design competitions of sorts and just repaint them every 6 months or so. Of course with the carrot comes the stick, sand blast all of those damn tags and try to actually make an effort to discourage the behavior.

Ohh, and as much as Toronto does sometimes take pride in being grungy (fliers on light poles. anybody?), graffiti is really not a Toronto issue. It has been going on since cavemen times in every culture, often to greater degrees than anything you would see in Toronto. As much as we have a perpetual Europhillia here, graffiti is definitely not unknown over there. In a lot of cases, graffiti artists are treated much more as real artists than they are here banksy being a better known example. And anybody who would suggest that there is more graffiti in Toronto than Cartagena hasn't been to one of the cities.

 

[jks]

I actually like the graffiti that's on the back walls of buildings on the open sections of the bloor-danforth line and on the SRT. On the other hand, littering, drugs, and other behaviour is unacceptable.

 

[adma]

Just as an example, along Duplex St. north of Eglinton, some guy did up his garage door to look as if he had a Bentley. It's small, obviously, but it does personalize things a bit and provide a bit of variety.

Does that really count as "graffiti"?

 

[Archivist]

To my mind, graffiti is a nuisance crime, I would usually prefer that it not be present, but the fact that it is there doesn't really bother me that much. As Whoaccio points out, the problem of graffitti is much more prevalent in most other western cities than in Toronto, Berlin in particular I remember as being absolutely thick with it. In New York, for all its self-promotion about the enforcement of its laws, I don't recall seeing a single window in the subway that was not seriously scratched up, much much more so than here. And it seems to me that once you leave Manhattan, graffiti rules. I have always taken solace from the fact that graffiti, lots of it, and apparently very crude too, covered the clean Roman buildings of Pompeii when they were uncovered. It just doesn't matter that much.

As for Glen's observation about Columbia, it's so whatever. You have to be there to see for yourself. I've not set foot in Columbia, but in Brazil graffiti was everywhere, I will offer only this one rather shocking example below. It would be easy, nonetheless, to watch a show (especially one about cooking) about Sao Paulo and not see any graffiti. Give me a break.

 

[adma]

Abandoned, huh? Wonder what the story is there. (Or for that matter, the date of the building, given this is Brazil.)

 

[Whoaccio]

Does that really count as "graffiti"?

If you take the dictionary definition of any painting, lettering or etching on a wall in an informal manner it is. If you take the definition that graffiti is basically punks scrawling their names on telephone booths then no. That is partly my point, we need to better differentiate between, for lack of a better word, art graffiti and tagging.

 

[AKS]

I would say art is if someone approves it to be there. If it's not, that's vandalism. Walking in Chinatown, I get the impression it is ghetto cuz of all the graffiti on the wall like "I love" so and so and "I was here" and people writing swear words. Like anyone cares. I also see it often in washrooms and subways. That's vandalism. I even saw some people etch into the metal plate of the elevator button area when I was living in Scarborough. Also people leaving plastic bags there. My impression of Scarborough was low income people and disrespect. I'm sure not everyone there is like that, but when you start noticing people don't care about their surroundings, your impression tends to think they are ill-mannered or uneducated.

Another thing that irked me was listening to teenage girls swearing using the F word at least once in every sentence. I really wonder if they were taught to speak properly in school. I felt like washing their mouth with soap.

 

[ducati0000]

Toronto politicians has no gonzos to take care of the core mess,they should pass a law prohibiting graffiti period.If caught make those responsible to remove pre selected walls garbage and fine them a set amount.My friend who live in Melborne visited me a week ago she couldnt believe how the city "changed for the worst" the last 5 years since she visited me.The amount of garbage,tagging and the over all "scum" appearance of the city.Of course this said Europe is having a terrible time also controlling these idiots.

"I like graffiti. It adds an interesting dimension to an otherwise incredibly ugly city. Somehow it personalizes things. And it says " amidst this massive eyesore, live human beings. "

your kidding right..my idea of "dimension" is clean parks,honest people,clean air...not stupid punks with a spray can.