Councilman Tom Didier wants the public's help in finding out who spray-painted graffiti on the side of the Science Central building. But that's only one small part of the problem:
Fort Wayne Police, who focus on this problem, say in the last 18 months, the city has seen a 400% increase in graffiti.
The anti-graffiti network, an agency that paints over and removes graffiti across the city, says this year staff is on pace to clean up 6,000 sites marred by graffiti.
Greg Barnes/Anti-Graffiti Network: " We've noticed an increase in the gang graffiti, but we're not sure about some of the other reasons, but we know each year it has gone up for the last ten years. Pretty frustrating to go back to the same place 15, 20 times a year and take down graffiti."
We went through a period there when this defacement was considered "art," and a lot of people actually tried to help the defacers express themselves. Hope that nonsense is over. I'd make every incident a felony and lock some people up for a while.
Comments
A 400% increase.....simply horrible.
Then again, I'm sure there are some "liberals" out there that feel this is as much "art" as a crucifix in a jar of urine.
Be lucky we don't have a commuter rail line here...imagine the "artsy" cars passing the station (like all other major cities).
If we target the small stuff (like this) now, we can avoid the bigger stuff later...it's still called the "Broken Window Theory".
Feels a bit DRAFTY in Ft. Wayne, doesn't it?
B.G.