Thursday, January 29, 2009

Taggers arrested in L.A. for major damages

Another story in today's news about the damage and expense caused by "taggers" spreading the graffiti style of vandalism to public areas, shown by a photo of the concrete riverbank of the L.A. River between downtown and Boyle Heights. It's a three-story, half mile long addition to the urban blight found locally. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/crime/la-me-big-taggers29-2009jan29,0,2885943.story For those who persist in defending the practice as art, you should consider the cost to the public for this unwanted "art,"

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that removing the MTA tag from the river alone will cost $3.7 million because hazardous materials crews must create an elaborate dam to capture all the paint and runoff water so it doesn't get into the riverbed.

In this case, however, the particular culprits are neither teens, nor dirt poor, and they may be experiencing the more painful side of paying some serious dollars for applying their "art" to property that is not theirs. Sorry, but that's just the way it looks to me. If you're into this activity, pay your own way to get material as your canvas, use your own property or don't do it. No matter how much you might support it as an art form, I don't believed that even the biggest advocates would appreciate getting their house and garage hit with some crew's unrequested application of their "art."