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Graffiti and vandalism


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#1 Holden West

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 12:02 PM

Victoria, BC product deters California graffiti artists:

Taggers beware - or be wet

Whittier firm turns on waterworks to prevent would-be graffiti vandals

By Kevin Smith, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/28/2008 03:53:41 PM PDT

WHITTIER [California] - Graffiti used to be a big problem for Mure Corp.
But that's water under the bridge now. Or in this case, water in the face of would-be taggers.

The Whittier-based industrial development and property management firm had a motion-activated sprinkler system installed on one of its buildings in August and it's virtually eliminated the problem.

"The building used to get hit two or three times a week," said Scott Railsback, Mure's vice president of property management. "But we haven't been tagged in six months."

Railsback had the specialized ScareCrow sprinkler heads mounted on the outer wall of the building, 15 feet up where taggers can't reach them.

"It's pointed straight down and I spaced them about 20 feet apart," he said. "The second night after it was installed, a tagger came and got about two and a half letters on the wall, and then he was gone. We had a good laugh about that the next morning."


Railsback tried other options before the ScareCrow system including cameras, bright lighting and anti-graffiti paint. But those methods didn't work.

"With the anti-graffiti paint, you're supposed to be able to wash the graffiti off, but that wasn't the case," he said. "It was as much work washing it off as it was repainting it. We also considered an electric fence or a wire in the ground that would shock them, but that would be a liability."
Railsback ultimately decided that water was the best - and most effective - method. "Who would want to get sprayed with water on a cold night?" he asked.

The ScareCrow sprinkler system is manufactured and sold by Contech in Victoria, British Columbia. But as effective as it's been for graffiti prevention, it wasn't designed for that use, according to Contech spokeswoman Tracey Robertson.

"It was made to keep deer out of gardens," she said. "They eat everything up here. They take the heads off tulips and eat everything in sight. The ScareCrow has also been used to keep blue herons out of koi ponds."
In Southern California, the system has also been used to keep sea lions off of boats, Robertson said.

"The sea lions are are so heavy, they could climb up on a boat and capsize it," she said. "We never imagined that it would have anti-graffiti applications when ScareCrow was created. But it's something we're looking into."

Each ScareCrow sells for $89. The unit operates for up to six months on a single nine-volt battery and covers about 1,200 square feet.
Railsback says he's glad his company has finally gotten a handle on its graffiti problem.

"I wear a lot of titles around here and the frustrating part is I'm also the painter," he said. "I was out there rolling paint over the graffiti every two or three days. You're basically out there painting the same damn wall."
And the cost to repaint wasn't cheap.

"It was costing us about $200 every time I had to go out there between the time and materials," Railsback said. "I spent about $2,000 a month getting rid of it."

For more information on Contech and the ScareCrow sprinkler system, call (800) 767-8658.
kevin.smith@sgvn.com
(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2701
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
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#2 aastra

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 12:42 PM

Now if only these sprinklers were being used in Victoria....

#3 G-Man

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 01:12 PM

What if you lean on the wall? Don't think this would work in an urban environment.

#4 Rob Randall

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 01:32 PM

Much of the largest and most difficult to remove graffiti is on upper levels away from the sidewalk. I think this would work.

#5 Nparker

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Posted 30 May 2008 - 01:54 PM

Much of the largest and most difficult to remove graffiti is on upper levels away from the sidewalk. I think this would work.


I too think this would work, so much so that I am going to propose it be investigated by my strata council to combat the ongoing problem we have with graffiti on the wall space surrounding our BC Hydro box. I wonder if it could be put on a timer to only work at night so as not to soak (or electrocute) Hydro employees should they need to access their equipment. I have no issue with electrocuting graffiti "artists".

#6 LJ

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Posted 31 May 2008 - 09:05 PM

I too think this would work, so much so that I am going to propose it be investigated by my strata council to combat the ongoing problem we have with graffiti on the wall space surrounding our BC Hydro box. I wonder if it could be put on a timer to only work at night so as not to soak (or electrocute) Hydro employees should they need to access their equipment. I have no issue with electrocuting graffiti "artists".

All you would have to do is wire a photo electric cell into the unit so that it would only complete the circuit when it was dark. The units might already have this feature tho.
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#7 Holden West

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Posted 31 May 2008 - 09:50 PM

You could fill them with patchouli oil so that the offenders get hippie stink all over them and they lose face with their punk friends.
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"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#8 Rob Randall

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Posted 21 November 2008 - 08:41 AM

Graffiti doubles incidence of petty crime: study

If there is graffiti all over the mailbox or lots of litter on the ground, you'd be twice as likely to take the cash, according to a provocative study that taps into a shady side of human behaviour. It also lends support to the controversial "broken windows" theory behind crime and anti-graffiti prevention programs from Vancouver to Rome.

The study, published online yesterday by the journal Science, found people are much more inclined to litter, steal and trespass when it seems other people have been breaking the rules. "The mere presence of graffiti more than doubled the number of people littering and stealing," it says.


Keizer's team conducted six experiments to see if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level law-breaking could change the way people behave. They found that leaving shopping carts scattered around a parking lot was enough to induce 58 per cent of people to litter leaflets that had been left under the windshield wipers of their car. Graffiti splattered on the wall in front of a bicycle stall had a similar affect on cyclists.

But it was the money-in-the-mailbox experiment that was most dramatic, and most surprised the researchers. "It was quite shocking," says Keizer, whose team secretly watched people as people strolled by a mailbox with a letter sticking out of the slot with a five-euro note visible through a transparent window on the envelope. They found a quarter of the people walking past pocketed the money when there was litter on the ground or graffiti all over the mailbox. Only 13 per cent took the money when there was no litter or graffiti.



#9 Mike K.

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 09:38 AM

"Graffiti" is not a "tag," which is the crap we see all over most of these boxes.

Labeling "tags" as "graffiti" is like labeling a Kia a luxury vehicle.

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#10 victorian fan

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 09:56 AM

Those are often used in gardens to scare urban deer.
They sense animals using the same technology as security, sensing movement and heat.

#11 Ms. B. Havin

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 11:02 AM

For the record, the article posted by Rob ("Graffiti doubles incidence of petty crime: study") makes sense to me - if an area is already starting to get trashed, it's likely to be disrespected even more, and it's likely to offer the conditions for individuals to ignore their own "inner cop."

That said, Mike put his finger on what was bugging me about one particular aspect of it:

"Graffiti" is not a "tag," which is the crap we see all over most of these boxes.

Labeling "tags" as "graffiti" is like labeling a Kia a luxury vehicle.

That's exactly right.

"Tags" are the equivalent of litter or pissing on the street, and I'd bet they open way more doors for bad behaviour than "real" graffiti. (In Victoria, we have way more garbage tagging, and not so much real graffiti.)
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#12 Caramia

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 11:49 AM

The alley behind Broad Street, between Yates and Johnson used to have some fantastic graffiti. I was said when they started painting that over. I remember when as a tip of the hat to the tenants - Dorothy's Cafe, they did a whole wizard of oz wall. And once, they did a tribute to Von Bode. It was fantastic. The graffiti along the trackside gallery was wonderful too, I loved walking that route with my grandmother. She's a puzzle fanatic though so she always had to stop and figure out what every word said..
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
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#13 ted - 3 - dots

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 07:04 PM

The alley behind Broad Street, between Yates and Johnson used to have some fantastic graffiti. I was said when they started painting that over. I remember when as a tip of the hat to the tenants - Dorothy's Cafe, they did a whole wizard of oz wall. And once, they did a tribute to Von Bode. It was fantastic. The graffiti along the trackside gallery was wonderful too, I loved walking that route with my grandmother. She's a puzzle fanatic though so she always had to stop and figure out what every word said..



------ so like, what does your Grandma think , about it all ...?

is it just a bunch of names ,

or is it art ...?

ted... ( i got's ta know ) cause like if it's art ,,, ?
then we should be supporting these young "Van-goes" ...!

( ie: before somebody loses an ear ...!!!!! )

know what I mean ...?


;{-


.

#14 IanHunter250

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Posted 10 April 2010 - 11:38 PM

some jerk recently tagged my grandmas corner store with the letters H Y P E..its really dissapointing as we have little money to paint our store ..something needs to be done about nuisance taggers in this city
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#15 G-Man

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 06:29 AM

I think tagging actually deserves public flogging.

#16 sebberry

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Posted 11 April 2010 - 10:39 AM

I think tagging actually deserves public flogging.


Agreed. We have a side door on our building that gets tagged all the time.

I was watching from my deck one evening as a couple of punks were running around the street tagging light posts and signs. I actually phoned it into the police. Sure enough the cop drove by after the miscreants had left. Hopefully he caught up with them down the road.

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#17 Rob Randall

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Posted 14 May 2011 - 06:40 AM

[Toronto] graffiti community fuming over crackdown

TIM ALAMENCIAK
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, May. 12, 2011 10:35PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, May. 12, 2011 10:45PM EDT


The mayor has always been a popular figure to caricature, but his staunch opposition to graffiti has catapulted his image from mockery to target: From caricatures of him eating spray cans to labels calling him an “art terrorist,” the street artists of Toronto have found inspiration in Mr. Ford.

Shawn Jones, known as Zion and the owner of the Toronto-based graffiti supply store Bombshelter, said he had a meeting with Mr. Ford in which he warned the mayor that cleaning off graffiti is a great strategy to invite more of it.


I guess it shouldn't surprise me that there is a graffiti supply store in Toronto. In Victoria you can source high-end spray paint marketed to that crowd.

#18 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 14 May 2011 - 06:51 AM

At least the graffiti supply store isn't publicly funded. Nor is BC Smoke Shop here, on Quadra. InSite on the other hand....
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#19 jklymak

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Posted 14 May 2011 - 07:07 AM

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that there is a graffiti supply store in Toronto. In Victoria you can source high-end spray paint marketed to that crowd.


Isn't there a whole spray-can display cabinet at Opus with appropriately urban fonts?

#20 BladeMcCool

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Posted 14 May 2011 - 09:39 AM

This appeared across the street. Been like this for about 2 weeks now. Lol. Wonder when this bldg will get squatted. Waiting for the show to begin.




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