Progress Reports on the April Graffiti Challenge? This is an easy way to have a huge impact on how this community looks, so keep making those calls, folks.Taggers will (literally) put their marks anywhere; see how they "enhanced" the workmanship and details of the Uptown Broadway Building:
I've been making about two calls a day, just stuff I see when I'm walking or driving around. It takes about 45 seconds per call. I'm certainly more aware of it now. Yesterday I called in a tag on a rolled-down metal gate on a storefront and the 311 lady said, "Did you just notice that as you were driving? THANK YOU!" It made me laugh.
ReplyDelete"see how they "enhanced" the workmanship and details of the Uptown Broadway Building"
ReplyDeleteWow. That was quick.
Did they learn to do that from the classes at Uplift?
ReplyDeleteThey just finished cleaning up that façade! That pisses me off so bad! I'll definitely be more cognizant of graffiti and be calling it in more often.
ReplyDeleteThat's so crappy :(
Well, according to "this is awkward" who posts over at Chicagoist and works for one of our local alderman/alderwoman, these taggers were just 'reclaiming their space'. What a bunch of nonsense. What the hell is wrong with these hoodlums? No wonder businesses don't want to come to this neighborhood; who wants the headaches associated with it?
ReplyDeleteI think that when the police catch these bastards, they should tie them to the crumbling L track pillars at Broadway and Leland and use high-powered paint guns to spray them head to toe in paint and just leave them to dry, and for the bridge to crumble.
ReplyDeleteShiller, this is your best work to date. Your people are really working hard for you these days
ReplyDeletehaha i agree, those little taggers should get painted. who do they think they are? why aren't there any cameras to catch these little Monet wannabees?
ReplyDeleteI Wonder if Shiller even cares about this. Shiller come on lets hear from you. You should be getting to work now, it is about 11AM
ReplyDeletesame old same old
ReplyDeleteHope they catch these destructive people and make them do at least 100 hours of public service cleaning graffiti.
ReplyDeleteThis behavior is a crime and they deserve to be held accountable for destroying property.
Taggers is too nice a name for these punk gang bangers! As long as HS is the war lord of the 46th ward, these acts of property damage will go on. Until we have an alderman that encourages law enforcement against her supporters in the numerous gangs that call the 46th ward "theirs" acts like this will make improvements here hard to bring in.
ReplyDeleteThe time has come for all of the responsible citizens,the"ignored majority",the"tax payers" that pay her $105,000.00 a year salary to take a stand ! Let's start a recall movement or maybe impeachment if nothing else lets all get behind her opponent in the next election and whatever we do not allow her to insert her lacky if she retires !
Secret deals for the CTA and Truman College, a humongus ripoff at the Wilson Yard TIF, worst EL station in the system, the list goes on and on and on....
I'm sure it's just coincidence, but so depressing that one of the few undeniably kickass things happening in Uptown - a building returning to its former glory - ends up defaced a couple days after it's celebrated on this blog.
ReplyDeletea quick google search for "XMEN" yielded this information about the crew responsible for this act of vandalsim.
ReplyDeletehttp://nygraf.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=37
I'm sure they will blame their tagging on "getting back at the man" and not that they are just a**holes who are doing as much damage to their own neighborhood as any of the people they blame. God it makes me ashamed to have thought I used to hang out with taggers. Thankfully, most of them have grown up and put their creative juices to productive uses. (Shockingly, when they did that they went from being quite poor to well compensated individuals.)
ReplyDeleteemail addy of Jonnie Black, the "hep cat" postin' out props to the likes of Sivel and Page:
ReplyDeleteBLACK, JONNIE N3TD@AOL.COM
In case anyone is interested in relaying our appreciation to his home-fries.
X-Men.....that's so lame.
ReplyDeleteLet's NOT start a war with the graffiti guys... let's not spur them on to greater glory.
ReplyDeleteThe best revenge is getting their stuff removed quickly.
A recent court case in Uptown had the "artist" receiving a hefty fine for property damage. The people who live in ParVenu made sure someone from their building followed the case through the system and showed up in court.
Let's get it removed and call in when we see it in progress.
I'm about as far from a Shiller fan as their is, but I'm having a hard time linking her to this graf stuff. What has she (or hasn't she) done that makes people blame her so hard for this specific crime? I get that, in general, she comes across as a soft on crime, but what's so special about graf?
ReplyDeleteis that building in the 46th anyway? its north of leland, right? im not a fan of HS but if its not her ward, its neither her problem nor her blame.
ReplyDeleteWhen they are caught, their should get their faces spray painted by the cop who caught them. Anyone see Colors when Sean Penn did that?
ReplyDeleteColin, when was the last time you heard Shiller speak out against taggers, crime, prositution, etc....
ReplyDeleteThat is the point, she sees it as normal and will not stand up against criminal activity like most Ald do. Again, hear taxpaying Uptown citizens are asking for her help. But it is the evil bad apples or what ever new name she has for people who want a crime free safe place to live, that are wrong about this type of activity. No she did not paint the building herself, but she looks the other way as a peowerful figure of Uptown. Simple really.
They teach GRAFF ART at Uplift School! Look at the wall outside that school on Wilson covered in the same crap that is covering our beautiful buildings in Uptown. That is sending mixed signals to kids at this school when they are taught something in school that is illegal in most cases. Shiller supports that too. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteI see. I know she's soft on crime in general. I just thought maybe there more to the story. Like when she called CAPS "racist".
ReplyDeleteShiller never called CAPS racists. She just called them elitists. There's a difference.
ReplyDeleteI dont know. I understand everyones point of view here, but I kind of like graffiti. Maybe its just the anti corporate artistic expression involved appeals to me. But I definetly dont feel it needs to be expressed on private property so I'm of two mines. Perhaps this neighborhood needs to do what others have done and establish a space where graffiti artists can freely and legally express themselves while leaving everything else alone. And altough I get that many will reject the idea of a legal space as not being very street, I dont see how it could hurt. Maybe an incentive like a webcam on the legal space so they could save their work would help motivate some.
ReplyDeleteSLOW DOWN!!! That is old graffiti. They actually are just old doors. They are not the originals or the ones that will remain up... I hate the taggers as much as anyone. But old is old.
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer in the use of best practices. From the perspective of the tagger, I have my doubts that a graff wall would discourage them from wanting to display their art on other private & public properties.
ReplyDeleteOther wards have created some novel ideas to discourage graffiti. The 1st Ward provides a bounty leading up to the arrest of the tagger. The members of the business community contribute to it. I'd be curious if this has helped. There are products out that can be placed on glass that does not allow the tagger to permanently etch their markings on glass. This type of tagging causes incredible property damage and it probably doesn't help retail. I used this film on the windows of my campaign office, knowing I would be targeted. The stuff is cheap and it really works.
In the meantime, I hardly think teaching a course in graffiti in a high school will discourage taggers from doing their thing throughout the neighborhood. I'm betting there are more successful approaches out there that's worked well in other schools.
There's a new type of school on the Southside where students go to school 4 days a week and they work in various assigned corporations 1 day a week. The money they earn goes toward paying their high school tuition. The high school drop out rate is almost non-existent and a huge percentage of them go to college after high school graduation. This is a school that only accepts students living in poverty. I would imagine many of these students don't think about tagging.
Thanks for the info, 1:03. Somehow, it really makes me feel a lot better that it is old. It was really depressing to think that someone looked at the reinvigorated building and then wanted to deface it.
ReplyDeletePhew! Its not brand NEW graffiti and the door is going to be replaced. That makes it all better. I suppose by that logic its ok to deface the plywood wall erected around the Riv building, since it will be removed anyway, right?
ReplyDeleteNot better in the sense that "all is well in the world"...just better in that someone didn't see the newly unveiled building in all of its restored beauty and immediately reach for the spray paint.
ReplyDeleteI know how to deal with the Uplift graffiti class. Tomorrow (April 17) between the hours of 6am - 7pm is the Local School Council election for every CPS school. ANYONE over the age of 18 may vote as long as they live within the boundaries of the school, and that means most anyone living in Uptown can vote.
ReplyDeleteMarc Kaplan is the head of COURAJ and is on Uplift's LSC. Here's our chance to get him off the school council. The school is located at the 900 block of W. Wilson.
(April 17) between the hours of 6am - 7pm is the Local School Council election for every CPS school. ANYONE over the age of 18 may vote as long as they live within the boundaries of the school.
ReplyDeleteThis is a phenomenal suggestion. I just hope that other people put their names on the ballot so that he doesn't get on anyway.
I seriously considered running for my LSC but we may be moving out of state so I couldn't do it. Being part of your local LSC can be a win-win for everyone. The kids get a new advocate in you & you get fresh news and input about what is happening on your local school campus.
Since it is so awesome outside today, I decided to take a walk to the WAMU bank on Montrose and Broadway. I walked down Magnolia from Leland and I wish I had my phone on me, battery was dead, because I must have counted like 20 different gang tags and random graffiti. The el tracks that run across Montrose were the worst. I spotted an XMEN tag that looked like a child had done it, made me think of this thread. The sad thing is even though a call to 311 was made, I am sure it will all be back asap.
ReplyDeleteDuring my walk today I had a couple of tiny incidences that I think I will write about on my blog. Random mulch fires and A-holes with run away baby strollers. Good stuff!