Graffiti walls do not stop vandalism: study

[Chad Balcom]

Providing legal locations does little to reduce tagging, report finds

By Cassandra Drudi, The Ottawa CitizenSeptember 4, 2009

Ottawa legal graffiti walls, which area graffiti artists fought to preserve when the zero-tolerance approach to graffiti was introduced last year, do not reduce the amount of graffiti, according to a report by city staff that recommends no more such walls be established.

[Peter Whitley]

Would that suggest, Chad, that skateparks do not mitigate street skating?

[Ashley Mott]

Would that suggest, Chad, that skateparks do not mitigate street skating?

Are you suggesting that street skating is as lame as tagging? Because that is what they are talking about.

Of course, a grafitti wall is not going to curb tagging. Grafitti takes time and skill, which is why legal spots are a necessity (same goes for street skating). I will not generalize that all taggers are unskilled, but I do think a lot of taggers these days are not artists. Unfortunately, most folks don't know the difference.

[Peter Whitley]

I believe that most graffiti artists start out as taggers, then they get into throw-ups, and finally more elaborate pieces.

Personally, I have no issues with tags. I'm a caligraphy geek and appreciate the letter-form distortions...even when they're naive and unpretty. Kind of like how one can appreciate a doodle. It may not be refined but the soul of creativity is there. Most importantly, it's public expression. (Pity that the only thing some of these kids want to express is that they have a nickname.)

To me, graffiti and tagging have little distinction. That's not to say that I don't appreciate a thoughtful piece that required some artistic skill to put up more than a quick sloppy scrawl of some meaningless initials.

What I don't understand is why graffiti artists don't call themselves "muralists" to distinguish themselves from the taggers. A "public mural wall" seems much more palatable than a "graffiti wall."

[ccraines]

I too have wondered if the development of a skate plaza in a area where the street skating is sick would cause a decline in the skating on the street. My response would be only possilbly. A decline would only come about if that provided plaza provided a skating experience that is greater than/and equal to what is being provided on the street.

Regarding tagging here in LA it is interesting but it gotten to the point where its redunancy has gotten boring. As far a graffitti or "Murals or Muralist" bring it on especially in a skate plaza!!!!

[Peter Whitley]

I'm cautious about relying too heavily on a public message that a street plaza—or any skatepark for that matter—is, in itself, a way of mitigating "unsanctioned" street skating.

First, there's nothing inherently wrong with street skating. Too many communities don't understand this. With street skaters you have people out using public areas in the evening which helps bring others out to enjoy the nightlife AND can help displace undesirable activities that tend to happen in "non-pedestrian" downtown areas. Street skating is great.

Second, most street skating doesn't leave any negative evidence on the structures. Grinding (and wax) and sometimes wheel marks are the exceptions. Many people won't even notice. Skaters will ALWAYS notice. Property managers tend to notice. Bottom line: It's not an epidemic worthy of city-wide ordinances.

What skateparks ARE good for—relative to street skating—is that it provides a place for skaters to recreate that is away from traffic. If the skaters use the skatepark as a place to warm up before they go downtown, well...at least they're not warming up downtown.

It's only when the skateparks become better than downtown will we see a real shift.