Dealing with Graffiti

[+natureboy68]

Do any of you include cleaning up/painting over graffiti as part of your CITO event? i have started carrying spray paint with me to cover up graffiti as i see it (the smaller ones). i know some of it is unavoidable, given where some caches are hidden, and most of the graffiti is gang-related. but some caches are in under-used parks, which also breeds graffiti, but ruin the outdoor experience for many...

your thoughts??

[+Cardinal Red]

I have very little hope we will ever be able to eliminate graffiti. Heck, we can't even eliminate actions that have much harsher legal consequences. I have never attempted to remove or cover over graffiti. So you are well ahead of me on the social consciousness of this issue. Do you really feel that spot painting over graffiti makes the area more aesthetically pleasing? Or do you think in any way it discourages the graffiti "artists" from revisiting that spot?

[+ZSandmann]

I'd be afraid to carry spraypaint as the authorities may thing I was the one tagging the place.

[+natureboy68]

the park i usually go to has a boardwalk that is painted brown, when i go and i see graffiti, i paint over it with brown spray paint. especially since i have seen a lot of nazi symbols and other racist marks. i usually get praise from anyone who sees what i am doing, because if i wait for the parks dept. to take care of it...i think it does help, every little bit does...

[+wavector]

the park i usually go to has a boardwalk that is painted brown, when i go and i see graffiti, i paint over it with brown spray paint. especially since i have seen a lot of nazi symbols and other racist marks. i usually get praise from anyone who sees what i am doing, because if i wait for the parks dept. to take care of it...i think it does help, every little bit does...

 

I also carry spray paint with me when I go out geocaching but I only use it to paint or touch up caches. Your idea rocks though, arranging a CITO with your favourite local park that is aimed at repainting problem graffiti areas sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I think a park would probably react positively to any offer of help.

I agree with ZSandmann, spray painting anything outside of such an organized event might put you at risk of being accused.

 

If you were to contact the park they might readily give you permission, the might even give you a park volunteer badge, then you could spray paint graffiti without any worries!

[mebesaturday]

the park i usually go to has a boardwalk that is painted brown, when i go and i see graffiti, i paint over it with brown spray paint. especially since i have seen a lot of nazi symbols and other racist marks. i usually get praise from anyone who sees what i am doing, because if i wait for the parks dept. to take care of it...i think it does help, every little bit does...

 

I also carry spray paint with me when I go out geocaching but I only use it to paint or touch up caches. Your idea rocks though, arranging a CITO with your favourite local park that is aimed at repainting problem graffiti areas sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I think a park would probably react positively to any offer of help.

I agree with ZSandmann, spray painting anything outside of such an organized event might put you at risk of being accused.

 

If you were to contact the park they might readily give you permission, the might even give you a park volunteer badge, then you could spray paint graffiti without any worries!

 

I totally agree with you along the lines of anything in a park...but I also love street art and find that sometime I would rather look at graffiti than a MCdonalds or BK or Marlboro sign or other visual polution.

 

my first cache is located right next to some graffiti that is better than most art in my city.

 

that is all OBEYTHEGIANT

[+MissJenn]

Be careful about taking these projects on without speaking to the land manager or property owner. While the intent is obvioulsy very good, I just want to throw in some words of caution.

 

#1 - The guidelines state:

Caches may be quickly archived if we see the following (which is not inclusive):

• Caches that deface public or private property, whether a natural or man-made object, in order to provide a hiding place, a clue or a logging method.

Visitors with cans of spray paint may seem like the original graffiti artist.

 

#2: Some parks have special paint ALREADY on their surfaces, to allow for easier removal of graffiti with their special soap. You with your spray can would be be worsening the problem. (i.e. more for them to remove)

[+wavector]

speaking to the land manager or property owner

 

When setting up any CITO event this is almost always the first step that I take.

I can't think of any exceptions to this but I am sure that there are some.

 

Unlike a regular geocache, which you don't want non-geocachers to find, it is OK for a CITO cache to make a big splash, visibility helps. It helps get local officials involved and it can make them more aware of geocaching.

My kids really like painting so an offer of a chance to to help out in a local park by painting would probably be a big hit.

 

With my kids I would be inclined to use water based latex but Miss Jenn is right, special paints that allow easy clean up of graffiti are often used today.

Edited March 16, 2007 by wavector

[+wavector]

I totally agree with you along the lines of anything in a park...but I also love street art and find that sometime I would rather look at graffiti than a MCdonalds or BK or Marlboro sign or other visual polution.

 

I saw a very cool documentary awhile ago about graffiti in different countries around the world and some of it was absolutely gorgeous, there is no doubt that some graffiti is executed with great skill.

In a couple of cases the artists were actually sanctioned by property owners so it was actually elevated from graffiti to commisioned art.

 

Congrats on your first cache!

[+DodgerBlues]

I totally agree with you along the lines of anything in a park...but I also love street art and find that sometime I would rather look at graffiti than a MCdonalds or BK or Marlboro sign or other visual polution.

 

I saw a very cool documentary awhile ago about graffiti in different countries around the world and some of it was absolutely gorgeous, there is no doubt that some graffiti is executed with great skill.

In a couple of cases the artists were actually sanctioned by property owners so it was actually elevated from graffiti to commisioned art.

 

Congrats on your first cache!

 

yes, there is a difference in graffiti. I really dislike the 'name tagging', thats when they just write their names on things. Of course, nobody should deface other people's property.

[+Renegade Knight]

....#2: Some parks have special paint ALREADY on their surfaces, to allow for easier removal of graffiti with their special soap. You with your spray can would be be worsening the problem. (i.e. more for them to remove)

 

Bingo. Plus even if the park doesn't have anti grafitti paint they may volunteer paint that fits their theme colors, or have paint they want you to use. When you tackle grafitti, ask first. You will probably get enthusiastic help.

[+Renegade Knight]

.....but I also love street art and find that sometime I would rather look at graffiti than a MCdonalds or BK or Marlboro sign or other visual polution....

 

Grafitti is a cultural tradition with deep roots. If it's old enough it's "Petroglyphs" and protected. If it's new enough it can get you put in jail. If some of that street art survives long enough it may very well become protected.

 

There are also locations where hikers have been carving ther name in the rocks/trees or whatever going back to the turn of the century (or longer in older areas). As an ongoing tradtion it's protected. You still may get your butt arrested for doing it, but once done, if someone tired to clean it up they too could get arrested for vandalizing a historic location.

[+legacypac]

I own a small security firm and have learned that painting over tagging quickly discourages crime. Step one for gangs is often to tag a spot. If no one reacts, it means that no one is watching or cares. Step two is to commit other crimes there.

 

In Vancouver there is the West side and the East side. The West side is pretty much free of tagging, and is pretty safe for a large city. The East side is home to the street level drug dealers, homeless people, etc. On the East side no people do not bother to paint over tagging or fix vandalism. Its a circle - vandalism breeds crime and crime breeds vandalism.

 

So if you want to help paint over vandalism - great! Cooperate with the local parks department so you do it right.

[+Moore9KSUcats]

I own a small security firm and have learned that painting over tagging quickly discourages crime. Step one for gangs is often to tag a spot. If no one reacts, it means that no one is watching or cares. Step two is to commit other crimes there.

 

In Vancouver there is the West side and the East side. The West side is pretty much free of tagging, and is pretty safe for a large city. The East side is home to the street level drug dealers, homeless people, etc. On the East side no people do not bother to paint over tagging or fix vandalism. Its a circle - vandalism breeds crime and crime breeds vandalism.

 

So if you want to help paint over vandalism - great! Cooperate with the local parks department so you do it right.

 

I visit a small park frequently. It has a trail that goes under a bridge and connects to another trail on the other side of the river.

 

Anyway, a month or so ago, I was at that park checking on my cache, and noticed a lot of graffiti on the bridge supports. When I got home I called the police to alert them of it. An officer called me back for information. I told him of the graffiti (F*** the establishment and 3rd street gang forever) and he basically seemed to brush it all off, saying that we don't have a gang problem here. I don't care whether it is truly gang graffiti or not, it really looks bad on that trail! And yes, we have other instances of graffiti in town, also. I saw some on a park building (different park) Thursday morning, and by Thursday evening, it was gone (sandblasted off). I'm sure the event that was being held in the park on Saturday had a lot to do with it getting removed, though (I don't know how long it had been there).

 

Needless to say, nothing has been done about it yet..... I think he was wanting to put it off to the parks department, although the bridge has been there far longer than the park has! I would think it was the responsibility of the roads department, not parks.