I have never said that graffiti was not an art form, or that a graffiti artist is not an artist. I'm just saying that if it is art, my property is not your canvas. Neither is the property of my neighbors. I hold a special place in my heart for vandals. I just notice that as I am driving/walking around in Riverside, I see a LOT of petty vandalism. It is common in the "artsy" parts of any city, as well as in the more "diverse" areas. Lots of folks would tell you that its because we have a lot of kids in the area with nothing to do. I disagree. I have caught young kids doing horrible things to peoples homes and businesses in our area, but more often than not, it is adults that are the guilty party. In Riverside, we have loads of slackers living (?) among us. When you wake up at the crack of dark, after sleeping all day, and you don't have a dime to entertain yourself, what do you do? You could smoke some weed and go out throwing eggs, or rocks. You could also take some spray paint out of the shed, and paint a picture of a joint, for no good reason.
I saw a fire extinguisher laying in the street the other night, with all of the cars around it covered in the powder it contains. That must have been really fun. My point is, I hate this kind of crap more than even real crime. If a crack-head steals my extension cord, I know he sold it to buy crack. The slacker has no excuse for why he caused you to have to have a new window put in your car. He does not care that it costs you 400 dollars, and your bills were due. He does not care that your kids are scared to go to sleep because of his pointless action. I keep an extra sharp eye for these guys, particularly the older ones. I did vandalism as a young boy, and I am not proud of it. I think most everyone has done something along those lines at some point. But, I think when you are old enough to vote, the penalty for being caught doing this type crap should be severe. I call it "adult truancy" and I think they all need a place to be during the day, even if just doing volunteer work for others. I hate slackers, and Riverside is FULL of slackers.
3 comments:
I completely agree. And while I am usually the first to defend nearly all graphiti artists on principle, there is a limit. The taggers who are putting up the people all over downtown and Riverside are artists, they are making a statement. the a$sholes who keep tagging moronic nonsense on other peoples private property should have their fingers removed.
Thanks for the hit-back. Nice to meet you folks tonight, hope to get together soon. I just came back from checking the area, and damn. It is off the chain tonight. I was just talking to JSO (also in the area) and we both said it is the heat. The warmer it gets, the worse it gets. I got em going in all directions tonight, but now I know what "sector" and time block to check out.
Speaking of Graffiti, the house near the corner of Osceola and Myra, 2257 Myra to be exact, is covered with graffiti. The owner, Christopher Powell, doesn't seem to have much interest in fixing it up. All of the windows are boarded and there is trash everywhere. The entire lot is overgrown and I'm sure there have got to be some squatters living there. Something needs to be done about these houses.
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