More Graffiti?
Decatur Metro | March 12, 2010Left Wing reports in that he has seen an increased amount of graffiti in Decatur and all around metro Atlanta recently. And he worries that much of it may be gang-related.
Recently the Savi Market in Inman Park was robbed of an ATM and the police believe it may be gang related. Also that same night someone threw a rock or something through the window of Hand in Hand in the Highlands.
Not seeing graffitti like I am? Look at your picture for the Medora hair place.
Here’s the link back to the Medora Hair Salon post if you want to take a look for yourself. I personally didn’t notice it the first time.
Decatur adopted a stronger graffiti ordinance in 2008 requiring property owners to remove exterior graffiti within 15 days. The city also requires that graffiti on city-owned buildings must be removed within 24 hours.
According to the city’s website, to report graffiti “please send any graffiti sightings and complaints to reportgraffiti@decaturga.com; or call the Public Works department, 404-377-5571, to report graffiti nuisances on public property, including signs and fences.”
Hmmmm. Not finding a policy on DM posts that are made in the same week as a F-F-A-F comment… :0)
I’m anything if not inconsistent. I mean “flexible”!
And I’m an equal opportunity teaser!
Yikes! Of commenters! Of Moderators! Oh dear…
The graffiti on the Meldora window has been there for a while now (at least since VV was still in that space).
For what it’s worth, I haven’t noticed a resurgence in graffiti though.
Unconcerned Citizen deserves his name for not reporting the graffiti he noticed months ago… But most people are the same, expecting someone else to report it for them (or they don’t care).
Last year I sent in over a dozen reports.. And they were all cleaned up.
If anyone doesn’t think graffiti is on the upswing take a walk through town and count how many examples you can find. There is a fine new example on Church St near Commerce.
Did not know one could report graffiti. There does seem to be more around town.
There has always been a lot of graffiti along dekalb ave, but it is on the rise recently. A lot on apartment complexes along there. Also, along freedom parkway, there is a considerable amount of graffiti.
yeah. that’s not gang graff. sorry.
neither is 99.9% of the graff that you see.
“gang” graff is usually especially un-stylized. and there just ain’t much of it.
What is it, then?
Most of it is aspiring artists’ tags done with giant Sharpie markers, and the rest are people aspiring to be aspiring taggers. They move around during their days, tag stuff, and see where all the other taggers have been. Prime spots are blank–too many tags and the tagger moves on.
There is some great graffiti on the support walls under the MARTA tracks just west of the Eastlake station. It looks like an art gallery, and those painters are not just taggers but artists.
Thanks, NG, you took the words right outta my mouth. But I was also going to add that Decatur has always seemed so sterile with its lack of graffiti…I mean, I get that a tag on a store front is annoying to the shop owner but I’m always a sucker for a well-placed stencil. Good guerrilla art adds character.
agreed. although i prefer burners, or large pieces, to tags. stencils are always nice!
Gibbets nailed it. It’s just tagging–the stylized scribbling of someone’s graff name on a wall or other surface. It’s been a thing for more than 40 years, big in Atlanta for more than 30, and right now it is pretty prevalent.
The bigger pieces are just more elaborate names written on walls, some of which are highly creative amazing and sometimes political/social.
None of these things have anything to do with gangs.
The closest thing I’ve ever seen to “gang” graffiti in Atlanta is just kids expressing their own version of neighborhood pride by writing “zone 6″ (ATL police precincts) and the like on stop signs and such. Not very threatening.
I have a chuckle when I ride by the “you don’t even know no gangstas” between the MLK station and Georgia State.
My kids got a real kick out of the hippo graffiti over off Oak Grove Road and Lavista last week. The word “hippo” with the “o” being the head of a giant hippo.
To solve the graffiti problem, the legislature must allow SOME graffiti acts to be treated not as a crime but as a civil offense, much like a parking ticket. In other words, abolish the Hide-n-Seek privilege for graffiti vandals.
Next, a police investigator who is not an eye-witness may then offer credible testimony to identify in an informal hearing who is responsible for the graffiti. If a judge accepts the evidence, accountability for bad behavior follows.
Like a parking ticket, guilt brings a fixed fine. Restorative Justice is, however, an option. Certainty of punishment is its own deterrent.
There is no reason why cops should not testify as experts to identify graffiti vandals in court. Money talks. For those who don’t get the message, graffiti can become a very expensive habit.
I have no love for tags on street signs.
I have to agree with the direction of this discussion. Graffiti is not always a sign of gang activity, although it may be a problem to some. There are other ways to determine if a community has a “gang problem”. To me, much of the graffiti around here is Art. Check out the Krog Street underpass on DeKalb Ave!