the great graffiti debate!
graham falken
Was Obsid responsible? Has the new by-law been passed?
Whatever side of the grafitti/public art debate you are on surely there is another issue at stake here. Do we want a situation where uniformity is imposed on all without the chance to discuss, consult & look for consensus?
And what about the rights of residents/owners?
On a different but maybe related note my neighbour is a little concerned about the 'over zealous' chopping (not pruning!) of overhanging greenery (again no consultation/permission) and then leaving it lying around for weeks.
I appreciate that all new things have teething problems but can we not at least have more conversation before big brother type action?
--
Graham (& Penny) on Florence
Julia Teale
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Bev P
GILL BOND ARTWORKS
Hi Julia, I agree with you. The agreement of the street is an argument for allowing it, but it still defaces the neighbourhood as a whole. I think the biggest graffiti fans seem to be in Florence rd. I guess wanting to make a statement for those riding the trains. My personal take is its usually middle- aged men who think a bit of graffiti on their garden wall makes them hip!
Just Rich
neighbourhood.
On the subject of alledged over-aealous pruning - any greenery that
over hangs your property can be pruned at the discretion of your
neighbour or council, depends where it's hanging.
There's too many properties that create a nuisance to pavement users
and these areas have proven beneficial hidey-holes for the criminal
elements ; hack it back I say !!
Florence residents appear particularly care free in both regards -
shame on them !
Julia Teale
It is excellent to hear views from both sides of the debate - thus far I
have only really seen posts from those who support graffiti art in Obs, so
your voices are a welcome change. I went down to Florence Road and the
surrounding area yesterday, to see what all the fuss was about and took some
photographs that I have attached. Personally I find myself weighing in on
the side of the 'clean up' crowd as a result of what I found. What is very
important to me is that children use this route to get to school every day.
(Someone said to me recently that it would be great if people living in Obs
started sending their kids to the Obs Junior School.) That would be great.
It seems to only be used (probably because they do not have alternative
options) by some immigrant families at the moment and it would be great if
more of us made use of the facilities available to us. However, the message
Obs sends out near the school is one that would send the average mom and dad
running for alternatives if they could afford it. The area looks squalid.
It looks like it is run by older, unruly kids who say and do what they like
with absolutely no regard for the well-being of others. I would be afraid
to have a junior school kid walking around there. I do believe there are
better ways to encourage the creativity and talent of these youngsters than
to encourage a squalid 'aesthetic' that romances poverty, dysfunction and
the shadow of youth culture.
I am currently working with a member of the Obscid, Peta Brom, to develop an
arts programme that seeks to enrich our neighbourhood and engage with the
enormous creative talent residing in the precinct. We will keep everyone
posted as soon as the basic intentions are drawn up and will be looking
forward to input regarding the initiative.
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Brian & Sue Amery
I am reproducing an article below with which I agree.
What does Obs have to say on the subject?
Brian
Criminology
Can the can
Nov
20th 2008
From The Economist print edition
A PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal.
The idea that observing disorder can have a psychological effect on people has been around for a while. In the late 1980s George Kelling, a former probation officer who now works at Rutgers University, initiated what became a vigorous campaign to remove graffiti from New York City’s subway system, which was followed by a reduction in petty crime. This idea also underpinned the “zero tolerance” which Rudy Giuliani subsequently brought to the city’s streets when he became mayor.
Many cities and communities around the world now try to get on top of anti-social behaviour as a way of deterring crime. But the idea remains a controversial one, not least because it is often difficult to account for other factors that could influence crime reduction, such as changes in poverty levels, housing conditions and sentencing policy—even, some people have argued, the removal of lead from petrol. An experimental test of the “broken windows theory”, as Dr Kelling and his colleague James Wilson later called the idea, is therefore long overdue. And that is what Dr Keizer and his colleagues have provided.
Dr Kelling’s theory takes its name from the observation that a few broken windows in an empty building quickly lead to more smashed panes, more vandalism and eventually to break-ins. The tendency for people to behave in a particular way can be strengthened or weakened depending on what they observe others to be doing. This does not necessarily mean that people will copy bad behaviour exactly, reaching for a spray can when they see graffiti. Rather, says Dr Keizer, it can foster the “violation” of other norms of behaviour. It was this effect that his experiments, which have just been published in Science, set out to test.
His group’s first study was conducted in an alley that is frequently used to park bicycles. As in all of their experiments, the researchers created two conditions: one of order and the other of disorder. In the former, the walls of the alley were freshly painted; in the latter, they were tagged with graffiti (but not elaborately, to avoid the perception that it might be art). In both states a large sign prohibiting graffiti was put up, so that it would not be missed by anyone who came to collect a bicycle. All the bikes then had a flyer promoting a non-existent sports shop attached to their handlebars. This needed to be removed before a bicycle could be ridden.
When owners returned, their behaviour was secretly observed. There were no rubbish bins in the alley, so a cyclist had three choices. He could take the flyer with him, hang it on another bicycle (which the researchers counted as littering) or throw it to the floor. When the alley contained graffiti, 69% of the riders littered compared with 33% when the walls were clean.
To remove one possible bias—that litter encourages more litter—the researchers inconspicuously picked up each castaway flyer. Nor, they say, could the effect be explained by litterers assuming that because the spraying of graffiti had not been prevented, it was also unlikely that they would be caught. Littering, Dr Keizer observes, is generally tolerated by the police in Groningen.
The other experiments were carried out in a similar way. In one, a temporary fence was used to close off a short cut to a car park, except for a narrow gap. Two signs were erected, one telling people there was no throughway and the other saying that bicycles must not be left locked to the fence. In the “order” condition (with four bicycles parked nearby, but not locked to the fence) 27% of people were prepared to trespass by stepping through the gap, whereas in the disorder condition (with the four bikes locked to the fence, in violation of the sign) 82% took the short cut.
Nor were the effects limited to visual observation of petty criminal behaviour. It is against the law to let off fireworks in the Netherlands for several weeks before New Year’s Eve. So two weeks before the festival the researchers randomly let off firecrackers near a bicycle shed at a main railway station and watched what happened using their flyer technique. With no fireworks, 48% of people took the flyers with them when they collected their bikes. With fireworks, this fell to 20%.
The most dramatic result, though, was the one that showed a doubling in the number of people who were prepared to steal in a condition of disorder. In this case an envelope with a €5 ($6) note inside (and the note clearly visible through the address window) was left sticking out of a post box. In a condition of order, 13% of those passing took the envelope (instead of leaving it or pushing it into the box). But if the post box was covered in graffiti, 27% did. Even if the post box had no graffiti on it, but the area around it was littered with paper, orange peel, cigarette butts and empty cans, 25% still took the envelope.
The researchers’ conclusion is that one example of disorder, like graffiti or littering, can indeed encourage another, like stealing. Dr Kelling was right. The message for policymakers and police officers is that clearing up graffiti or littering promptly could help fight the spread of crime.
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Brian Amery
graffiti, but, as I understand matters there are 5 possible ways in
which your external (outfacing) walls can be covered. What you do on
the inside of your walls has nothing to do with anyone except
yourself.
1. Painted in a uniform colour
2. Covered naturally, for example by ivy
3. Mural
4. Painted by what I call graffiti which is the hip hop curly stuff in
silver and black..............
5. Tagged
The Obsid has set itself firmly against tagging and we have decided
that we will paint it out using white unless we can use the owner's
colour provided by the owner.
Herman Road has only the backs of Florence Road and London (?) Road
properties backing on to it. It was the most seedy, revolting, filthy
street. It is used by the kids of Obs Junior School as a route from
the station to their school.
When we started to paint out the tagging it became clear to us that we
would be creating more mess unless we painted the whole wall. We spoke
to several people, some were in favour and gave us the go ahead, some
wanted to keep their arty walls but by the time we had painted out the
foul language there was very little of the art left, so we painted the
whole wall white. Some who we tried to aproach did not answer their
door bells. We sorted out one owner with his own blue paint. One owner
wanted his work of art to be left alone, we respected that but will be
round tomorrow to white out the "fuck you" in its midst.
Personally I think Herman Ave looks really great now, it has a
Mediterranean feel about it, which I love. Come on Obs - come and have
a look, let us know - better or worse?
Graham - we note that your white wall is tagged and we will be round
as soon as weather permits to paint it out on your behalf.
You ask whether we want "uniformity imposed on all" may I suggest that
you have been given a free undercoat and you are welcome to use any
colour of your choice to complete the upgrade of your area. But be
aware that, if it gets tagged, we will paint it out in white.
I value your support of our Improvement District.
Brian Amery for Obsid.
Brian Amery
your neighbour about the "chopping" of her greenery. If it was the
neighbour towards the school, she had a creeper growing across the
road and we cut it back to about 10cms from her wall. We encourage
creepers on walls as they make it more difficult for taggers. We do
not encourage creepers on streets as they add to the general
tattiness.
The Obsid will cut overhanging branches which impede use of pavements,
sight of traffic signs and so on. Patrick is our gardener, Gareth
Leyman is the Obsid director in charge of ecology, I am an ex farmer,
we all have the highest respect and understanding of plants.
My apologies that some cuttings were left lying around for weeks, we
had other plans. The stuff was removed today.
Brian
On Feb 13, 3:02 pm, graham falken <grahamfal...@gmail.com> wrote:
Kris Marais
Rooter does to a blocked sewerage pipe- clean and especially clear.
Mediterranean actually, ha ha ha ha! Obs own olive grove in the making,
Looking good Brian. Getting some respect back for a much neglected
street. Get some more.
K
Knarf Boatmaker
I often patrolled Herman Road but never felt comfortable there, had my car wheels damaged by a stolen/missing drain lid, chased dicey persons and all that. Felt like cutting out this little bad rotten lane as nobody really seemed to care a damn about anything whatever and had no pride in their surroundings and they should feel 'as far as I'm concerned" ashamed.
Thanks Obsid for doing what you are doing - it changes my conception of Obz and as far as I'm concerned if property owners cannot take care of their property let the community do it for them except that I feel they should be charged for it and fined.
I do and do not understand residents who want a democratic debate about colours and all that but time is running out - let them debate these issues with the criminals. They surely will understand these residents concerns and sort it out?.
Once again thank you Obsid for doing what promised to be doing - it will not always be easy but it feels like we are winning,
To all residents bounding Herman Road please join us in improving Obz - Welcome and thank You.
Frank
Reinmar
I have not walked down Herman street since the revamp, but thought
that I had to voice my own experience with grafitti, creepers and
boundary walls. (I will ensure that I walk down Herman as soon as
possible)
Our house is at the end of Oxford Road
Jeannine Louw
Thanks OBSID for cleaning up and making plans to get Obs looking decent. Its what we were all working so damn hard towards last year.
Tennis courts revamp is a bloody great idea and so is removing graffiti and trimming trees.
Its important to see this as a collective improvement for OBS.
Well done and keep up the good work.
Reinmar
complete post.
Dear Brian,
I have not walked down Herman Street since the revamp, but thought
that I'd like to voice my own experience with regards to graffitti,
creepers/plants on walls, boundary walls & houses. (I will ensure
that I walk down Herman as soon as possible to see it for myself) I
first need to sketch the state of the row of houses from about 5
months ago
Our house is part of 4 double storey semi-detached houses at the end
of Oxford Street. About 5 months ago the house on the corner next to
our house was starting to fall apart with paint peeling off, broekie-
lace halfway broken, dirty walls, untidy front garden, and gutters
missing. Our house is in a good state with everything painted and our
front boundary wall was completely covered in Black-Eyed Susan
creeper. The house next to us was also in a good state, but had a
1.8m high picket fence which was starting to fall apart, as a result
of another creeper and old age. The last house was also in a fair
state, but had the same picket fence boundary wall with also another
creeper inbetween the uprights and pushing it apart. Hence the
roadfront of all the houses were untify with plants, unpainted walls,
graffitti etc. Since 5 months ago the following has happened:
1. I wrote a 5 page letter to the owner of the house on the corner
(which lives in the Crags - Plettenberg Bay) and pleaded with him to
upgrade the external facade of the house and fix all broekie-lace,
remove graffitti and paint the house. He did not correspond to my
letter, but in the months following it, proceeded to paint the house
completely, fix all gutters, fix all broekie-lace, remove all plants
from untidy garden (on the street & in the garden) and put security
spikes on all walls and balcony (as security was also an issue)
2. The house on the left of us removed their picket fence boundary
wall and all creepers and proceeded to build a brick boundary wall
with trellacing ontop and paint it white.
3. The house on the complete left also removed the picket fence
boundary wall and all creepers from the house and garden and proceeded
to build a brick wall with piers, painted it white and will still
install trellacing inbetween the piers
4. Our creeper caught fire (as per pervious postings on ONW) and
since the fire, we have removed the creeper completely, painted the
wall and the broekie-lace white, and left it as is.
Now, when you walk down the start of our street all 4 houses have
uniform boundary walls which are all neatly painted and clean and
match each other. All the white walls gives a sence of cleanliness
and openness to the street and the houses. My partner and I have
decided after the removal of the creeper after the fire, that we will
not get another creeper to cover the wall on the street side as the
street facade of all 4 double-storey semi-detached houses look
wonderful. It also gives people space to walk on the sidewalk, rather
than in the street.
I wrote this to show that what the Obsid is doing in other parts of
Obz is imperitive, and the cleanliness of the streetscape of Obz as a
whole, is something that will upgrade the community as a whole. The
streetscape and urban language of any suburb is AS important as the
people and the physical houses in the suburb. One thing that must not
be forgotten about Obz, is that it is one of thé suburbs with the
richest architectural heritages in the surroundings of Cape Town.
Hence the fact that Observatory as a whole is an Urban Conservation
Area, and the fact that most of the houses in Obz are graded heritage
buildings.
I must commend Brian and the Obsid for what they have done thus far
and are 100% behind them with all other changes that they want to make
to the urban landscape (within reason and heritage of course :-) )
Well done guys!
Reinmar
James Cowley
OBSID
You’re a delicious monster, an ivy of delight with trails of promise, a young gladiola shedding its beauty to all who passes by through Observatory, a precious succulent moist with pride and strength. Let your blossoms fall .. on our misbehaviours of turning a blind eye to the dirt and grime affecting the young and innocent generation, .. on our lethargic state of ‘the council’s job’ over my lack of tidiness to clean in front of my own pathway. Spread your wings and cover our past shame of passing the buck, soar majestically against all the odds and trials that befall you, clutch swiftly at what needs to be rooted so that the young and old can find direction and consolation again as they journey the ripe fields of your produce. Dare to touch the star with urgent gentleness righting its way, that the trembling may cease and the lion’s thorn be removed. Watch over yourself and us with wisdom and respect, tug at the roots of decay with care and feed the young and hungry from the ground, so that sun may rise another day and the moon may tuck us in at rest, a job well done.
JamesMelanie Hoffman
From: obsid...@googlegroups.com [mailto:obsid...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of James Cowley
Sent: 16 February 2010 10:10 AM
To: obsid...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [obsid] Re: Graffiti & tennis Courts
GILL BOND ARTWORKS
OBSID is doing a great job. Herman street looks fab. Clean streets are a joy to walk in. VS are doing a good job the streets feel safer Tennis court clean up is brilliant. (and I don't play tennis) What is the matter with some residents?
Knarf Boatmaker
Thank you for your posting and efforts. I think the four double storey town houses at the end of our Oxford Road c/o Bowden Road look great and much improved to what it was before. Cutting back the growth on the corner etc also helps patrollers as they are now able to see along one site of the street to the other and observe any movement.
Personally I think that Obsid's efforts possibly kick-started other improvements in Observatory. Did I see a new nice little garden along one of the walls in Herman Road? Are some of us possibly proud again living in one of the nicest suburbs in the Cape?
Could we have some expert opinion on the property prices in areas with and without graffiti and the perception it has on would be buyers. Perhaps Werner and Paddy and others can tell us?
Regards,
Frank
James Cowley
Having seen the Hartleyvale corner walls all painted and dollied up en rout to Little-Mowbray, I took my wife on a drive in my happy clappy Nissan bakkie with ice-creams in hand after our Tue eve's dancing stint and careered along Nuttall, where I had courted her at no 44 about 40 years ago, and showed her Patrick’s handiwork, he having cleared up the weeds all around the OJS fence single handedly. We mozied down Clifton Terrace, she took a delight to the schools new back fence and was impressed at telling her the school is busy watering their playing fields, also re the school’s “shine” project lastly about their organic gardening progress. We zooted across Wrench along the railway line biting into the flakes propped up-straight of our MAC oops KFC cone ice-creams, we saw some changes took place re clean ups of graffiti’s, grubs’n’weeds along the Florence board. We nearly twisted our necks off at noting corn ‘mielies‘, growing siding the railway fence! Whooah boy, the Nissan was on a high and jolled up Trill, veered left into Herman, we nearly stuck our ice creams into each other’s faces as we pointed to this or that wall with our cone stubs amazed to see crisp’n’clean painted walls. We noted that not all the walls’n’spots were done yet but suddenly, Vivienne my bakkie, haIted at the sight of an empty discarded 2 litre wine bottle laying amongst the neat’n’newly planted shoots behind one of the houses. My driver’s door cracked open and soon I had the bottle sorted into the bakkie’s hold ready for the next deposit of a approx 1,000 bottles or so to the Woodstock school re our grand-children’s school recycling program, bottles of all sorts collected by a few from all around Obs, either off pavements or lying along gutters, or collected by a few from the locals. Viv then ran us up home, well delighted - seeing is believing, the emails are going it, Obs is a’changing, and our cones now well had-it.
James