Join the discussion on the following article:
Chicago Transit Authority filing lawsuit to fight graffiti vandals
It should be more effective to put new coatings on the equipment. Coatings that make the spray paint bead up and unable to dry or stick.
Make them haul Railroad ties on carts, all day. But thats probably just too much for a parent to bear watching their lazy kid work…Sue em…
Jim Norton,
you’ve elegantly mixed a solution for dilution of the graffiti flood.
You caution that being around a railroad with a camera endangers you more than being around the railroad with spray paint cans.
Propose, or suppose, that railfan photographers someway, submitted pictures of graffitists in action to legal representatives, police and law departments.
Imagine, a railfan corps of graffti defeaters.
Zoom and telephoto lens sales…up and up more
The great news here is meaningful efforts are being put in place to address the widespread problem of graffiti. The bad news is it effects only a single area.
Unlike the CTA, the Class Ones have yet to announce any plan, big or small, to address the wholesale graffiti destruction of the industry’s railcars. It appears a can of spray paint now grants one unchallenged and wide open access to the nation’s rails. Yet, be aware if you are trackside with a camera. There is a plan in place for that.
Thankfully the CTA didn’t follow the apparent apathy of the Class Ones. CSX is using its paint, not to paint out graffiti on its equipment, but to create murals as a marketing tool for the betterment of online communities. Yet, ironically, such efforts are quickly undone by parking a typical graffiti laden CSX boxcar in any of these online communities.
Granted, there are many miles to cover and total repaints are not the answer for now. However, the railroads should send a message that vandalism is not tolerated. “Buffing” and “slashing” are terms the graffiti community considers ultimate insults. By “buffing” a freight lots of tagger ego can be deflated by a small amount of company paint and within minutes.
No other industry allows this. These vandals have no fear of being caught. And its no wonder…Using graffiti as a barometer a case can be made that there is no meaningful railroad security. All the would be terrorist needs to do is follow the lead of the graffiti vandal.
Thankfully, this month the regional Blue Mountain and Northern declared a “War on Graffiti.” Hopefully, the big railroads will take notice and follow the lead set by RBMN and the CTA. Its two decades overdue.
This is more like it, going after the perpetrators and their parents instead of harassing rail enthusiasts taking photos.
I support anything that will decrease graffiti. I favor severe public canings myself, but society probably won’t go along with that.
CTA should make these paragons of virtue clean up the graffiti. That should give them a negative attitude.
I would think security concerns and safety would make graffiti removal a prority. When did it become ok to deface private property? I have movies I took in the 1990’s and NO graffiti is on any of the cars. When a few of the srtists get hurt doing their thing and sue the rr for not keeping them out, it would be more costly, in my opinion, and who wants anyone to get injured?
NYC was very successful 20 years ago eliminating it. I don’t know the specifics of how it was done, but perhaps CTA can emulate it. I know the MBTA pulls a car out of service immediately if graffiti is discovered. Or perhaps it’s simply a cost of doing business in a partially derelict society.
It’s about time they cracked down on these jack asses.
Catching these vandals is one thing but actually prosecuting, winning the case and then collecting the award are totally another. Most of the vandals come from lower income homes where $100 would be difficult to get let alone $2-$3 thousand. Plus the liberal judges will protect these people in fights against the rich CTA.
This might be referred to as the CTA’s effort to get “Blood out of Rocks.”. Assuming they catch the Miscreants red handed, the next step will be to prosecute them, and then get a judge or jury to sentence the evil graffitist. It is already, by the admission in the article costing CTA a $1 Mil a year for damages. How much more are they (The City of Chicago, et, al ) going to sentence punks, and how much are they going to collect? Again, “Blood out of Rocks” ? This will blow out very quickly, IMHO.
Maybe this will promote effective discipline? Property judgments against the parents might do the trick.
Good!! The best way to stop the bad behavior of children is to go after their parents!!! Finally some wisdom to all of this!
Bravo
Bravo
Bravo
The punishment I favour for graffiti vandals is to have them remove it themselves with solvent… and their tongues.
The big silly-butted bleeding-heart do-gooder inside me says that these young artists are sensitive, talented youths who should not be prosecuted for their beautiful creative works. But the realist in me looks to Singapore, where the infamous “Singapore cane” is used on graffiti punks (from 6 to 16 lashes depending on the court sentence). You seldom see any graffiti in Singapore! Bravo to the CTA, but good luck with collecting any $$.