It took vandals one day to deface SF's new $3.5 million parks

[hunter]

171. It never ends. Sometimes I get tired. We've had our cars "tagged."

We live beside a major footpath to the local high school.

It's a little bit of wilderness. I keep an eye on the wildlife, encourage the oak tree seedlings along, and talk to the birds and people who pass by. I'll also paint over graffiti, even on my neighbors' walls or in Park & Rec's territory.

Half the graffiti is gang stuff. Forty percent or more is tagging, "look at me!" stuff from kids who know this society sees them as useless nuisances, petty criminals, cannon fodder, or low value disposable labor; if society acknowledges them at all. Nobody wants to be invisible. Even at my most generous level of art criticism less than ten percent of the graffiti is artistic or political statement. Or else all of it is.

Artistic graffiti is vandalized as often as anything else.

For a few years it was rumored I was a crazy Russian because I'd confront everyone with a toothy smile and piercing gaze, even the gangster kids, a few of them armed. Who knows? Maybe they pictured me out prowling nights with an AK-47 slung over my shoulder and a pair of bloody pruning shears in my hand. Once I got scolded by our police for confronting some kids who were armed. But that was the only reason I called the police, because I'd talked to them and noticed they had guns. The police picked 'em up at the end of the footpath. Fourteen year olds carrying guns don't tend to be too bright. But if I called the police every time I caught kids tagging out there, or smoking pot, etc., I'd be halfway to George Zimmerman's hell.

When my own kids and their friends reached high school my mysterious reputation faded. I became somebody's dad. Don't worry about him. He's a bit crazy, but he's cool.

The mindless vandalism is most upsetting to me. There are kids who kill birds and other animals, pull down trees, dump stolen wallets and purses, etc... That's messed up. Then there are the thoughtless trash dumpers. Used condoms (ewwwwwww, but hey, they are using them!), convenience store trash, empty dime bags (are they still called that?), cigarette butts, chewing gum... Nine times out of ten you catch a kid throwing down trash, they'll at least look guilty, and that's a start.

I like to think our neighborhood is a better place since I work at home, keep my eyes open, and talk to kids. But we're not going to solve this problem until our young adults are welcomed into the greater society with a good jobs, paid educations, and excellent entrepreneurial opportunities. Until then the energy of our young people will find other outlets.