14 May 2005

Canberra Times throws fuel on the graffiti fire

| johnboy
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Here at RiotACT we thought we were verging on the incendiary (check it out! pictures on RA!) on the graffiti issue that Stanhope protege Aidan Bruford has ignited with his pastime of nocturnal vandalism.

But the front page of this Sunday’s Canberra Times was certainly opening a new front in this pitched battle which the Government now finds itself occupying unusual ground on. (Lets face it, normally a government is unequivocally against vandalism and not employing confessed graffitists in their closest councils)

The online story is sadly lacking the picture which dominated the front page of the paper.

While putting heat under the issue at this time is obvously a calculated act, the story had an interesting new element.

Manager of Blades Menswear Rodney Narayan, however, said there was no alternative for him but to commission the mural.

Fed up with having to paint over graffiti weekly, and having been told graffiti artists didn’t tag each others’ “work”, he forked out about $2500 for the mural last November as a last resort.

“We had been battling [graffiti] for a long time,” Mr Narayan said. “Since the wall’s been done no one has touched it.

If that isn’t already a protection racket it will be soon.

[Note: The Chief Minister finally did accept Aidan’s resignation, as reported here.]

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Whats the old thread revisited record ?

Santa (or the artist formerly known as Santa) – The leaves need to be cleaned regularly as they often are diseased and pose a bigger threat to our parks and gardens than anything else others can think of – ummm Drought would be a bigger threat to our parks and gardens ???

Holden Caulfield2:49 pm 15 Jan 08

Well, I did notice the other day that the piece near Blades had been repainted. So thom is topical, if nothing else.

Paraphrased from John 11:

Thom, once more deeply moved, came to the thread. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Thumper, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odour, for he has been there three years.”

Then thom said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Johnboy, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, thom called in a loud voice, “Aidan, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Thom said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Graffiti can’t be stopped

i thought local govt was for esoteric human rights legislation, lecturing to federal govt on any issue that thaes their fancy and ensuring that they get returned for a second term by commissioning grand plans which are sustainable and green and community oriented with a social rights and equity agenda.

The suggestion that it looks like a third-world country is bewildering and boridering on offensive. How many third world countries have you been to, John Hanna? And might I suggest that if “the environment that you choose to trade in” doesn’t suit your clients and their comfort zones, then maybe you should move?

Well as a community we’d appear to be at a crossroads, do we consign civic to be an urban wilderness? or do we turn it into a place where people will choose to do business?

Off the top of my head the nightclubs and landspeed are the only businesses that won’t be directly hurt by an increasingly filthy city, and while I always buy at landspeed when in Civic I would find myself in civic less often if the other businesses were to flee.

as a customer service focussed kind of fellow I always prefer to hear a complaint before I hear the cutomer is taking their business elsewhere.

And I’m disturbed our government is confortable with a situation where business owners need to pay professional grafittists to keep the amateurs away.

*THIS* is what local government is supposed to be doing.

Yep, I pick up litter everytime I go for a walk too, but most people don’t. I can understand the reasons behind the litter on Northbourne, but I just think that City Scape could pay more attention to it to stay on top of it. First impressions last and all that…

What I’ve never understood is people who leave litter to gather on their front lawn/side garden. They’re happy to prune leaves and mow grass, but don’t give a rats about Maccas’ cups, etc sitting in the middle of their lawn for days on end.

The leaf blowing I was referring to was on footpaths – and they blow it into gutters.

Northbourne Ave is actually managed by CityScape, who have were awarded that area through a tender process. The biggest problem with Nirthbourne is that rubbish is thrown from vehilces and blown down there by prevailling winds in Civic. My suggestion to you, is to pick up a little piece of rubbish as you walk along. I do that everytime i woalk to the local shops and chuck it in the bin when i get there. Every little steps counts as they… as for leaves, Autumn is an annual thing, therefore deciduous tress drop their leaves and diseased branches once a year. There has been a large amount of tree discards due to the draught conditions we have been getting lately. these have pushed many of the trees in stress, which again forces them to throw away the odd limb in an effort to survive. The leaves need to be cleaned regularly as they often are diseased and pose a bigger threat to our parks and gardens than anything else others can think of.

nice diversion

i dont think mr prufrock or vandal criminal graffiti morons are responsible for the change of seasons.

I don’t graffiti is as much a problem as litter. Northbourne Ave is a disgrace. It’s supposed to be the gateway to the city and yet it’s a disgrace. Do parks and gardens ever do anything other than blow fallen leaves (the natural bi-product of trees!) from footpaths? I couldn’t give a rats about walking through leaves, but that’s about the only thing I ever see them do.

Effectively a business owner had to pay extortion money to stop his property being damaged.

Sad very sad.

Couldn’t agree more.

This is ridiculous. I don’t really care about the graffiti – I am not going to try and protect the “artistic rights” of the graffiti artists like that other poster, but nor am I going to get so pent up with frustration about it. What annoys me is the totally irrational and disproportionate reactions of some people. There are more important issues!! “Affecting people’s comfort”!!! What a joke! There are some Canberrans among us who really need to get out more often and experience the real world outside of our uber-planned, comfortable little city.

The suggestion that it looks like a third-world country is bewildering and boridering on offensive. How many third world countries have you been to, John Hanna? And might I suggest that if “the environment that you choose to trade in” doesn’t suit your clients and their comfort zones, then maybe you should move?

Damn, won’t insert image into comments

Try this

http://www.error691.com/GoateeCat/belongtostanhope.jpg

Scuse the poor CGI skillz.

I like that mural on the side of Blades.
And the one near Academy.
Sure, I wouldn’t want to see the whole city painted up like that, but a few of them here and there are pretty neat.

Especially if it does keep away those ass-ugly tags.

All this hysteria over graffiti is getting beyond a joke. The versace wearing mob, moaning that Civic is resembling a third would country, need to get some friggin perspective.

Throwing money at it is throwing money down the drain. It would be bloody hard to try and eradicate it. We could follow South Australia’s lead and ban the sale of spray paint to people under 18. Still won’t stop them getting it though.

Never mind Steve Pratt’s suggestion of introducing 10 year prison terms for graffiti vandals – you won’t get the book thrown at you for assaulting a judge in the town.

Imagine what we could achieve if people directed their energy towards a substantive issue.

Time to move on people.

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