Oregon Graffiti

[mrwumpus]

As more Oregon businessmen and women realize they can earn more money by hiring illegal immigrants, you will find graffiti tags popping up everywhere, even in the nicest areas. There is not a stall or mirror in Southern California restrooms that does not have some Hispanic gang graffiti scratched into them. This is even in the nicest and 'safest' areas.

After a few years of this your own native sons, who lack any enduring role models from their own cynical and exhausted culture, will begin to adopt the dress and manner of the more potent and aggressive foreign culture. Then you will see more Johnnies and Tommies wearing really baggy pants and over-sized ball caps and sneaking out at night to try their hand at territorial graffiti on the walls and bathrooms of your 'nice' neighborhoods.

Oh wait, maybe this post is a few years late.

[sarahkate_m]

Originally Posted by mrwumpus

As more Oregon businessmen and women realize they can earn more money by hiring illegal immigrants, you will find graffiti tags popping up everywhere, even in the nicest areas. There is not a stall or mirror in Southern California restrooms that does not have some Hispanic gang graffiti scratched into them. This is even in the nicest and 'safest' areas.

After a few years of this your own native sons, who lack any enduring role models from their own cynical and exhausted culture, will begin to adopt the dress and manner of the more potent and aggressive foreign culture. Then you will see more Johnnies and Tommies wearing really baggy pants and over-sized ball caps and sneaking out at night to try their hand at territorial graffiti on the walls and bathrooms of your 'nice' neighborhoods.

Oh wait, maybe this post is a few years late.

i disagree with the stance of graffiti being relative to the presence of illegal immigrants... it's the wannabe's that are doing it. bored li'l brats who would never want an old girl like me marking up their houses or windows.

the baggy pants has to do with imitating prison inmates. the caps are from the bloods/crips/whatever imitators... the imitation of low lifes has been going on for generations. this does seem new for Eugene.

kate

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by sarahkate_m

i disagree with the stance of graffiti being relative to the presence of illegal immigrants... it's the wannabe's that are doing it. bored li'l brats who would never want an old girl like me marking up their houses or windows.

the baggy pants has to do with imitating prison inmates. the caps are from the bloods/crips/whatever imitators... the imitation of low lifes has been going on for generations. this does seem new for Eugene.

kate

I agree...it has to do with the whole "rapsta" ghetto wanna-be imitator types... It's what's popular for a lot of the youth these days, unfortunately. I have a middle schooler and it's really bad... the language is atrocious, and the style of clothes they wear is even worse. I volunteer in the schools - both elementary and middle school - and that whole ghetto vibe culture thing seems to begin to affect the kids around 3rd grade. That's when you see these kids who were once sweet, respectful, curious kids morph into P-Diddy wanna be's. I feel that the atheletes they watch on TV and at the games have a huge impact, too. So many of the ducks atheletes behave so inappropriately... and they act and dress a certain way... and the kids idolize them regardless and then mimic these oafs. So sad.

My 14-year old son is a bit of an outcast at his middle school - and in Eugene that's saying something! He's not a jock (doesn't play competitive sports, thank goodness...), and he's not what the kids are calling "ghetto" (baggy pants, listening to the music you hear on the popular radio stations and MTV, referring to girls as "females" or "ho's" or "skanks" or the b-word...)... so he and his friends consider themselves geeks and are proud of it. I'm proud of them, too!

Yes, we are regulars on the bike paths all around Eugene and in the last year I've seen more and more tagging. It's amateur stuff... nothing like what I've seen in larger cities... but it's there and it's becoming more common. Honestly I don't mind the beautiful stuff that I've seen in larger cities... but this tagging crap is ugly and stupid. I say - pink hearts would really spruce those tacky amateur tags up - go Kate!

[PaulFortyEight]

Studies show that "legal walls" do nothing but encourage more graffiti. It also encourages "turf wars" among crews with their own tag. Think about it: legal walls attract more vandals from out of the area, etc. This shows the vandals that the town supports graffiti, in an effort to get rid of graffiti.
See: Graffiti Hurts for more information on this concept.
In regard to the tags being gang graffiti.. they are not. Gang graffiti is used to mark territory, list members, offer drugs or contraband, etc., send warnings to rivals, etc.

[TechmanOR]

Why would they bother busting graffitti vandals when they can be making more money running photo radar vans?

Cops are not very responsive to car prowls, dirty transients criminal trespassing or graffitti.

Graffitti vandals are hard to catch, dirty transients are unlikely to come to court or pay fines, but they profit handsomely from traffic division.

There was a felony bust in Corvallis about two years ago though:
Man arrested for tagging all over town - News

[sarahkate_m]

Originally Posted by PaulFortyEight

Studies show that "legal walls" do nothing but encourage more graffiti. It also encourages "turf wars" among crews with their own tag. Think about it: legal walls attract more vandals from out of the area, etc. This shows the vandals that the town supports graffiti, in an effort to get rid of graffiti.
See: Graffiti Hurts for more information on this concept.
In regard to the tags being gang graffiti.. they are not. Gang graffiti is used to mark territory, list members, offer drugs or contraband, etc., send warnings to rivals, etc.

I've done some extensive reading on this topic --- you're right about dedicated walls.

I don't think I realized that tagging wasn't graffiti though.. I thought tagging was marking...! There certainly is alot here in south Eugene...

Kate

[TechmanOR]

Originally Posted by sarahkate_m

I've done some extensive reading on this topic --- you're right about dedicated walls.

I don't think I realized that tagging wasn't graffiti though.. I thought tagging was marking...! There certainly is alot here in south Eugene...

Kate

It's a matter of semantics. Graffiti is any unauthorized application of medium on any property that causes owner or community complaints.

I think it would be effective deterrent if they were to make prosecuted vandals erase or paint over their own vandalism that they spent a long time making and hold them accountable for materials cost in addition to community service of removing other graffiti.

[BeeBuzz]

I don't know where you get the idea there are no gangs in Oregon except in Portland...the law enforcement community in Oregon deals with a number of gangs, not wannabees, that are establishing territories in many areas of the state...for example, rural/agricultural areas are seeing an upsurge in Hispanic gang activity in both the "wet" and "dry" sides of Oregon.
On a lighter note: I've been watching the trains go by and see the same car from time to time. In a big, bold graffiti the length of the train car it's painted on, the words "DELO IS A LIRE" unfortunately have more to say about the author than the mysterious Delo...