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Most of you* know what it's like to wake up the morning after a party to find your door, along with your entire block, has been tagged—and you know the signature. As much as it may or may not make you cringe, though, it's not like you're going to turn anybody in.
Well, whatever you would feel in the party scenario or walking past graffiti in your neighborhood that you don't like is nothing, but nothing, compared to how much it would suck to have to pay a huge fine over graffiti you didn't do because the artist is your son or daughter.
In gearing up for a burst of summer graffiti all over the city, Daley announced that the city would fine the parents of juvenile graffiti artists (if he or she lives with them) as much as $750, or $3000 worth of restitution, whichever is higher. In the past, the city has notified parents three days after a violation, and even held parents accountable for any fines associated with a guilty verdict. Apparently, even with its war on graffiti, it wasn't enough. The idea is that they are juveniles, and their parents should technically be accountable. But what would you do if your kid was really good at art, and the city was their canvas? Then again, what if you think your kids art is ugly? Well, whether you think graffiti is beautiful or an eyesore, the city sure isn't giving up.
***Just joshin' ya! A little generalization for the cicadas. Because there's so many of them.
Image via chicagosnapshot.com.
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i was caught for graffiti in the early 90's and my p's had to pay but i had to pay them back. i don't see how this is any different.
What is the purpose of this post? Spraying paint on someone else's property is vandalism. How is it different than breaking into a constuction site and bending all of the copper pipes into a work of "art?"
I recognize there are many talented graffiti artists out there, but honestly I don't care if the kid is a gifted artist. Putting up graffiti (artistic or not) without permission is nothing more than vandalism. If a child is gifted in this manner, parents do have a responsibility to help guide that child toward expressing that talent in a constructive (and legal) manner. I've got no problem with parents getting dinged for their child's crimes... it is a lesson to both the parent and the child in responsibility.
I have a building on the SW side that is getting tagged every fucking weekend. What I am going to do is wait out there some night, catch the punk who's doing it, and beat the living goddamn hell out of him. I'm sure that, even though he (or they) are vandalizing my property every goddamn weekend, I will end up being like the Bernard Getz of 2007.
I like graffiti art, but only when it's sanctioned. When it's not, it's downright wrong. Screw these little punks and their (gang) leaders who wind them up and send out to vandalize. It's high time we take our streets back.
If I ever get my hands on that Preston kid, the police will probably be issuing me a fine.
We never have graffiti "art" in my neighborhood, just gang symbols from people "marking their territory", like unneutered dogs lifting their legs on a tree. It makes me sick.
What is that substance they use to graffiti on glass? They go up Milwaukee Avenue and hit the glass on every single building! My wife and I are curious to know what they do that with and if it comes off? And, yes, Preston's a little shithead.
The graffiti you see on glass is acid etching, and no it doesn't come off. You can pay someone to buff it out, but it isn't always successful and can be expensive. Acid etching burns into the glass, causing permanent damage. That's the cloudy white stuff you see up and down Milwaukee. How is that art??
It's an acid pen...my friend's got a bar on Milwaukee, and that stuff doesn't come off. Nor does that "anti-graffiti" window treatment work, either, at least not against the acid pen.
I think Preston's become mildly amusing, like playing the license plate game when you are driving...along with the dude from the 'burbs who comes into the city and tags the rainclouds everywhere.
@ Jim: That substance is hydrofluoric acid, and it is super-permanent. Your only option for getting rid of it is complete replacement.
The Chicago Journal ran an interesting article on this type of graffiti, the damage it does, and some of the efforts being made to combat it. Read it here.
This is one of the most poorly written articles I have seen in the Chicagoist. There are pronouns wandering around looking for antecedents, antecedent and pronoun agreement problems, and several sentence fragments, not to mention really awkward construction. Did you proofread? I might print this out for my students as an example of how not to write.
You know what I'd like to see just to fuck with these piece of shit grafitti punks? Rent some billboards, throw up a white canvas. let these punks vandalize them and then take them down and sell them for thousands of dollars as outsider art.
I'm happy the city is doing this, but honestly I'd rather spraypaint the kids face or do some other type of public shaming to make them stop. I'm vindictive like that.
Don't forget you can call 311 and the city will send out the graffiti blasters to take care of blasting it off/painting over it. It takes a few days, but they'll come - and you can call on buildings other than your own too!
I won't offer up an opinion either way but I'd say I'd rather have my tax money go to other things than 'graffiti blasters'. How about a 'pothole blasters'? 'cta urine blasters'?
Horrifed English Teacher is right. I've seen graffiti tags more grammatically correct than this post. Consider a proofreader or even remedial English classes.
And then consider this graffiti deterrent employed by Former Cicero Town President Betty Loren Maltese. If you were caught in or found guilty of the act, you had to come back to clean it - and you had to wear a pink tutu while you did it, during broad daylight. I'm not sure how long the program ran, or if it's still running, but it was a great deterrent to the kids who think they have the right to paint their names on other people's property.
I realize that's Cicero, not Chicago. They may be/have been able to get away with that kind of thing more in Cicero (Betty certainly tried to get away with her share of things while in office).
Regardless, the city is nobody's "canvas". Every building has an owner, and nobody has a right to paint his name (or clouds, or whatever) on things that don't belong to him. It's sad that you almost seem to endorse such behavior, Chicagoist. This issue has nothing to do with artistic talent. If a minor's parents haven't taught him to respect others' property, those parents are still responsible. That's part of being a legal guardian, and it's nothing new.
It's almost as if spook wrote this piece...
One thing that might be done in the "battle against tagging" is to is to reduce the amount of "fronts" in the war. There are several places/buildings where it is painfully obvious that nothing can be done to stop taggers from accessing them (that stretch of the Brown Line paralleling Ravenswood leaps to mind). Instead of continuing the idiotic "cover it all over with brown paint until it's bombed again in a few weeks" cycle, the powers that be should commission large murals in those areas. The CTA/City wouldn't have to waste time and energy defending areas that are indefensible, and there would be some permanent art decorating what are just ugly factory roofs (certain areas would be especially conducive to some very interesting art). The murals could be done as part of some CPS art outreach program that would encourage youths to seek legitimate forms of artistic expression that don't involve destruction of property (instruction on how galleries operate and how working artists get commissions and grants would be included). Even kids caught doing graffiti could participate after they served their sentence and/or paid their fine/restitution and sworn off illegal tagging (with huge penalties if they are ever caught again).
However, the ones that are caught crawling the scaffolding on old buildings being rehabbed and tagging vintage terra cotta ornamentation and the like should be ritually drowned in vats of Rustoleum while their parents are forced to watch ;-)
The city is their canvas? WTF, are you seriously endorsing this shit?
How about I go around and take a dump on your front lawn or stoop and then wipe it all over the walls. The city is my fucking canvas!!
+1 to Mikey.
And preston seems to have slowed down. "Vegan" is the douche bag I'm looking for now.
currently
worst graf: CMK
best graf: Mr Fingers
I wonder why they don't go to Winnetka to do this? Now THAT would be a coup.
I'll always love "Beer" from the UAC crew. Growing up & riding the trains was the best to see the graf that Daley has erased.
+1 to curmudgeon
Any asshole can tag some building in Logan Square, I think it'd be funny to see the windows at Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Hoffman Estates get the etching acid treatment or see "Nite Moves" sprawled across some Hummer dealership.
Got to say that Horrified English Teacher is spot on.
Not only are there problems with pronouns and just poor writing, but if the city is fining parents "$750, or $3000 worth of restitution, whichever is higher" I'm figuring that the city would always fine $3000 worth of restitution.
Even the fuzzy math that goes on in Chicago government would come up with that answer.
So, Chicagoist, what's actually meant by $750 or $3000 in restitution"???
Don’t ask chicagoist about math. They’re too busy getting their stale stories/blog posts from other blogs & name dropping to accrue cred. They used to be the well-written, funny-most-of-the-time, go-to for info on good stuff to know and do that might not have otherwise gotten much publicity. But now, eh...
"We were so down with this before it was cool, but now that everyone's doing it, I guess we'll tell you hipsters too..."
Just imagine this story being read by Christopher Walken and it instantly becomes awesome.
It's pretty easy to tell that it probably should have read "up to $3,000 in restitution or $750, whichever is higher". Meaning that if the restitution amount is $500, the fine would be no less than $750.
Forget these limited intellect haters who write three shallow sentences “correctly” and then have the nerve to compare their grammatical abilities to some one that writes paragraphs of complex thoughts and ideas.
But check it Dorr, like rap and hip hop, there is graffiti and, there is tagging.
Tagging is gang banger b.s.
Graffiti is part of hip hop culture, a revolutionary means of using art to express progressive politics and, self!
Consider when graffiti blow up in America. During the Reagan 80’s when Reagan killed all funding for art classes nationwide! Graffiti was the highly creative response from inner city children! Google this yall and check out some of the intricate detail that those brilliant artists managed to express themselves in every nook and cranny, moving and stable. Actually in the NYC several artists are folk heroes and legends, word!
Another example is how hip hop music blew up when Reagan cut funding for music programs. But that’s another story as well as the fact that when these “gate way” to graduation and higher education classes, art, music, and gym, etc, were cut, the drop out rate soared helping fuel the inner city crack epidemic which lead too the rise of the industrial prison complex, which of course created vast amounts of wealth for a select few, yea I know I’m bad!
Finally,
I hate having to look at all those ridiculous bill boards trying to sell me some b.s. No to mention the liquor and cigarette ones ubiquitous in poor communities. Not that the Spook don’t like to get his drink on every weekend, and has been known to have an occasional cigar, but what about the children!?!
So let graffiti artists create their art where they will as long as it’s not on peoples homes! If the city wants to remove it, fine, but use the dollars from bill board revenue, and who is the biggest badest tager in Chicago? Dumb Dumb Daley, who tags his name on every piece of city property!
Forget these limited intellect haters who write three shallow sentences “correctly” and then have the nerve to compare their grammatical abilities to some one that writes paragraphs of complex thoughts and ideas.
Easy for you to say, spook. You've never constructed three grammatically correct sentences in your life!
So, Chicagoist, what's actually meant by $750 or $3000 in restitution"???
Don't blame Chicagoist, they merely copied/pasted the wording from the nbc5.com story. Nothing wrong with that, right?
Cloudy,
you probably know that one has be over 21 to buy spray paint in the city, I therefore offer to buy top of the line spray paint for any graffitt artist or gang member tagger who wants to spray paint a hummer dealerhsip, Bed Bath and Beyound,or any similar institution of capitalism any were, including Glenco, so put the word out on the street, ya heard!
Sin.
Spook, aka Ethan reping Glenco to the fullest
p.s speaking of Hip Hop you left "Common"(NYC) off your list of great and or famous people who left Chicago for another city
+1 to spook for repping Glencoe. Bomb (slang for "tag", not a terrorist threat) the shit out of the northwest suburbs... they need it.
And my "list" was of people not born in the city proper who have had some effect (positive or negative) on the city in some way. Common, Twista, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Rhymefest were all born in the city limits (almost exclusively from the same five mile radius in the south side), so no hip hop transplants TO Chicago. Plenty FROM it, apparently.
Oh, and Ludacris was born in Champaign, IL. But he moved to Atlanta pretty quickly.
And for all the claims that "Blues" and "House" are Chicago inventions, the people actually doing the inventing weren't from here by a longshot.
spook--Tagging is not exculsively gang banger b.s. A tag is simply a signature, or indentifying mark, it doesn't have to be gang related.
im a illegal graffiti artist and all i have to say is tht u can do wat u want but we wont be stopped, srry but i am ur local terrorist
...can these people just chill its art, if your walls getting tagged then deal with the kid whos doing it on your property this shit isnt ever obviously going to stop, i know and am myself a tagger, not on private property but other places so its not the parents job to stop it. its the kids if they do dumbshit
its art.
If people put up legal graffiti walls may be graffiti artist would stop tagging building
i like dat idea......but itz not reallly goin 2 work........i would tagg da wall but i kno itz goin 2 b tagg ova................."Nawnsense!"