Cameras and Concrete

I notice a article in the Tribune, and ECW mentions it also.

Then I read the comments associated with the Trib article.
Then I visit the skatepark.
Then I return home, and write this.

First, I will give you a little background. December 2nd, 2006 I wrote this.  It is a transcipt sorta of a real conversation, with real kids.

“me: but you guys know there are cameras there, doesn’t that make a difference?
b2: they don’t work
me: what do you mean, they don’t work?
b2, b3: someone put grip tape on the poles and climbed up there and snipped the wires, yeah, long time ago, and the lights too, everyone knows.
me: so you’re telling me the cameras and the lights don’t work and everyone down there knows.
b2: oh yeah
me: so if the cameras worked, do you think that would help with the graffiti?
b2: yeah, well if kids knew people could see them they wouldn’t want to get in trouble”

Now, back at the end of November, Aaron at TSJ had put up this post. There was some discussion in comments, and the Mayor was in the discussion. On December 1st, I put up this comment;

Dona
Can you tell me if the cameras and lights at the park are operational? And if not, how long they have been down?

Her reply the next day;

Firefly,
I read your blog this morning and will call it to the attention of the City Manager and Park and Rec. I don’t know about the cameras, but I will find out.
There has to be a solution and I think the discussions that are happening throughout the city will provide it.
I thank all of you for your interest in this, particularly since I don’t think any of you are skateboarders:)
Keep the input coming!

Ok, the Mayor is looking into it.

I posted again later, on at least one occasion, questioning if this had been looked into, and got no reply. Then on April 9th 2007, Aaron posted again.

“It appears that our city commission has decided that it isn’t worth their time to police the graffiti regs at the skate park. To be honest, I can understand their reasoning. However, there has to be a middle ground.

We are an extremely artistic community. Why don’t we make the entire skate park into not just a place for kids to congregate, but also into urban art?

The city should invite local artists to cover every last inch of concrete with art. It could even be made into an event (with a juried competition). Whaddya think?”

Relevant comments :

“I like the sound of the carrot approach you advocate. By instilling ownership in the skate park with a juried art show we signal to youth that they are valued in our community.

It is a marvelous generator of physical activity for our youth and others with just fleeting (fleeing) memories of being young.” Peggy Beltrone

“I am a 21 year old who absolutely loves skateboarding here at the park. You could ask anyone at the park if they know me and 95% would say they do. So I feel pretty confident in speaking on behalf of them. And I believe that we (the ones that use the park) should be heard, not just the city comissioners, the mayor, and other citizens who basically ignore us unless there is something “bad” going on there. Most of us think that 99% of the graffiti that is there is crappy. Most of it was done by little 10 year old “gangsta” kids in the middle of the night which we cant really police seeing as they go at night with flashlights, and we arent really allowed there past dark since the lights are never turned on (whole different rant about that). We all would love to have some amazing graffiti at the park but those talented enough around town aren’t really willing to do it b/c most of them dont want to chance the GFPD seeing them who dont exactly like them that much. I have called friends from Missoula who are absolutely incredible artists who wont do it either b/c of the same issues. Its something we all are willing to work with but I dont know how willing the city or law enforcement really is (insert memory from 9/11/05 of me, a friend, and Tony Hawks manager in the back of a cop car after they were kicked out by police who threatened to mace us all (mostly 10-15 year olds there at the time) so I said that was B.S. and was arrested for disorderly conduct for “knowingly cursing at a peace officer”) So thats why the people with the most talent are wary of this. But any input from anyone from the City Comission, Mayor offices, or any other branch of local gov’t or just citizens in general would be great. Everyone at the park has actually thrown this idea around, there are a few issues that would have to be discussed first but I do think it could be worked out in some way. Thats all. Ciao.” Talan

I think alot of this young mans observations are accurate.

Now, lets skip to the present. The Trib publishes an article on August 7, 2007.

GeeGuy picked it up, and mentioned the obvious flaw in the “wear them out approach”, specifically that the city put up 33k for cameras.

See comments on the Trib article;

“put up some video cameras and I bet I’ll be proven right.”

“I think we could also invite the more artistic types to come in and see what they can do. Or just have a fun day of painting stuff on the skate park.”

“wait a minute here, didn’t the City in 2004 approve a $33K contract to install video cameras at the skate park??? It was right after “increased activity” and littering forced GFPD to close the park for two days… I thought we took care of this once already.” Dave Ketelhohn

“I think Dave in on to something here. Where are the cameras? Who is monitoring them? Who took off with the 35k?” ( it was 33k, but…accuracy has never been an issue with this guy)

“The skatepark does have camera’s located there! Maybe they are just there to look good or most likely they are broke! Who knows, but they do have them!!”

On another thread, not really about the park;

“As for the skateboard park, the city cleans it up, and the kids just grafitti it again. There is someone down there once a week with a power washer - it must be frustrating for Park and Rec.”

“Not to change the subject but Hal you are wrong about removing graffitti at the skate park. The skull and crossbones and the illiterate writing have been up for almost a year if not more and no attempt has been taken to remove it.”

The first comment made me wrinkle by brow a bit, but then I saw who wrote it, so I just put it up as an example of how little some people know about what is going on around them, and the second comment is the view of someone who does have a grip on the reality of the situation. But there were differing statements and I had to check it out.

Well, we went by the skate park today. I took a couple kids who are familiar with the past and current graphic offerings.

The graffiti you can see from the street is gone. Some of the obviously racist and obscene graffiti was removed from the main area. The big bowl was barely touched by the cleaners. The cameras have not been fixed, and when I was there, (the first time today) there were 8 kids on bikes, 3 with helmets, one little kid on blades, and a couple with helmets, on boards.

So what do we know now? We know that;

1. The City put in a camera system they do not maintain
2. The Mayor has known since December 1st, 2006 that the cameras do not work
3. The City knows it has a problem with graffiti at the skate park
4. Citizens have offered possible solutions
5. Holy Hal is a dumbass.
5. The Tribune published this story on the 7th. They posted a picture of a guy power washing on Monday, the 6th, with a caption that stated “it will take days to clean”. Did they follow up “days” later, to see if all the graffiti had, in fact been cleaned? No.
6.The picture Aaron has up in this post from November is still there, as of 4:00, August 11, 2007.

The second time today I stopped there, I asked a young skater fella “how much did they really clean?” His reply “not much, they just faded it out some”. He did not expound on the fact that it is rather difficult to remove paint from concrete with a pressure washer, which is a different instrument entirely than a sandblaster.

So that’s what I know.
 

11 August 2007 | Life | Comments