Making_America_Better__Graffiti...

Walls, subways, private property, bridges, underpasses, and street signs, just to name a few, have all seen graffiti. This issue in America today costs billions of dollars as we continue the battle to stop "taggers". Throughout the years people have tried many avenues to deter graffiti painters with not much success. With a little bit of research from graffiti fighters to actual graffiti artists, I believe I have come up with some ways to decrease graffiti and make America better. The history of graffiti dates back to the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece. According to Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (n.d.), graffiti is defined as "any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings." The graffiti found in America today has origins that date back to the political activists and gangs from the late 1960's. Markings were, and still are, used to distinguish territories as well as spread opinions and viewpoints from various groups, (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. (n.d.). Graffiti is placed within the publics eye for the same reason fine art is placed on walls or in a museum. The artists wants to get some sort of point or message across to whomever may reside in the area. These "taggers", as they are called, thrive on the rush. The more public a spot or the more difficult it is to get to, the bigger and better the art will be. A graffiti artist may use a different canvas and media, but in the end they are still creating unique pieces that will claim attention no matter where it is hanging. In many places around the world, people are noticing graffiti as more than just a nuisance and have started commissioning artists to decorate many public parks and buildings. In Montreal's Notre Dame de Grâce (N. D. G.) neighborhood, local business owners have decided to fight fire with fire. They're allowing professional graffiti artists to paint the walls of their businesses, before taggers have the opportunity. A wall of the Snowdon Bakery was painted over with a mural showing a baker surrounded by colorful abstract shapes. Owner Abie Gmora believes that once painted, others will not paint over the piece due to the unwritten code of graffiti artists. The city provides up to 80,000 dollars to a non-profit organization in order to fight graffiti. Many of the neighborhood citizens are unhappy with the organization and the direction in which their tax money is being used to cover up illegally covered walls with commissioned artwork (Lunau, 2009). There are many locations in the world where graffiti is becoming more accepted, or even wanted, to cover up walls or concrete. According to Paul Henderson, chief of administration in the district attorney's office in San Francisco, a prosecutor went through three pools of potential jurors before selecting a suitable group that thought graffiti was even a crime: "They said, 'This is a waste of my time, because I think trying someone for graffiti is stupid, and I'm not going to do it under any circumstances" (Jamison, 2009). This shows graffiti today is being more and more accepted by our communities and that some citizens think fighting graffiti is a waste of our time, and an even bigger waste of taxpayer's money. With graffiti being known as vandalism, and also known as art, when is it ok' Most people believe graffiti on property, without the owners permission, is not ok no matter how wonderful the art is. This is where our problem arises. Graffiti artists cost business owners and taxpayers millions of dollars annually. According to deputy city controller Monique Zmuda, the Department of Public Works in San Francisco spends 3.7 million dollars per year on its anti graffiti program. The money was used in a time when the city was facing a huge budget crisis. In the mean time the Board of Supervisors were attempting to come up with up to eight million dollars to prevent layoffs among public health workers (Jamison, 2009). I don't believe we can ever get rid of graffiti completely, just as we can't completely get rid of crime, but we can definitely decrease the vandalism aspect and use that money towards more top priority issues. With the billions of dollars spent on covering, fighting, and staking out graffiti artists, I believe we can us the taxpayer's money to better our communities. The New York City Housing Authority alone spends around thirteen million dollars a year to remove graffiti from housing buildings. These are the same buildings where elevators don't run and many tenants wait years for a working refrigerator. Recently, the city of New York received a 1.8 million dollar grant from The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This money will be used to pay for a computer system that will allow officials to track all graffiti in New York City. (Crackdown, Zephyr) Is graffiti that important of an issue that we allow ourselves to overlook the little things that may ultimately make our communities better' Many cities throughout America have bare walls and abandoned buildings. I believe if we dedicate more walls throughout the cities to graffiti and art, we can lower the amount of other walls we don't want painted. Richard Kamler, associate professor of art at the University of San Francisco wrote, "We need the city to provide "free walls," like many cities, for instance Los Angeles and Berlin, so that graffiti artists can work and create their form without the constant fear of arrest, fine and jail time. Twenty million dollars a year is budgeted for graffiti removal. Imagine what this money could be used for in terms of schools, arts education, social services, etc" (Kamler, 2010). I believe we need to look at graffiti as an art form. We should redirect money from fighting graffiti, to helping our communities to become educated, create jobs, and switch graffiti into positive growth. If we have art schools and jobs for these artists, our world of art and ghetto communities could drastically change. Walls that the city charges a low fee for artists to paint on, can help with the cost of painting over unwanted graffiti. With the extra tax money saved, and money raised, there can be art schools opened up in our low income areas making artists of these creative minds. In turn, this will decorate America with messages to possibly open peoples minds to different beliefs about graffiti, and other aspects of life and in turn make America a much better place. Jamison, Peter. (2009, December 9). Cover-up worse than crime' S.F. outspends other cities fighting graffiti. S.F. Weekly,***[insert pages]***. Retrieved June 17, 2010, from Alt-Press Watch (APW). (Document ID: 1918420801). Kamler, Richard, associate professor of art, University of San Francisco. Graffiti is an art form, not vandalism. (2010, February 17). San Francisco Chronicle,p. E.10. Retrieved June 17, 2010, from Business Dateline. (Document ID: 1963795281). Lunau, K.. (2009, August). Fighting graffiti, with more graffiti. Maclean's, 122(31), 25. Retrieved June 17, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1843847241). Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. (n.d.). Graffiti. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti#cite_note-72 Zephyr, . (1995). NYC Graffiti Crackdown. Retrieved from http://zephyrgrafitti.com/zephyrwrt./crackdown.html