The War on Scratchiti Begins!

Whoa! Looks like the MTA is poised to go buckwild on perpetrators of scratchiti. That's the fairly craptastic end of graffiti where people use sharp objects to scratch tags on subway windows and doors. The results look similar to etch-- that's where vandals use glass-etching fluid in shoe polish bottles to catch tags. Apparently the incidence of both kinds of graf is way up over the last year. Newsday reports:

The number of major subway graffiti hits, which require more than eight hours to clean, doubled last year to 101 from 52 in 2004, Lombardi said at the monthly NYC Transit committee meeting. Clean-up costs for the major hits jumped to $187,811 in 2005 from $87,798 the previous year.
Through May 15, the subway system has seen 72 major graffiti incidents in which $140,678 was spent scrubbing away the vandals' handiwork, according to transit officials. Most incidents occurred in Queens and Manhattan, with the F and L lines taking the most hits.

So far this year, police have made 122 graffiti-related arrests, compared to 110 for all of 2005. In this year's arrests, 44 of the suspects were younger than 16, and 58 were between 16 and 25.

Two solutions have been proposed. The first makes sense: adding mylar plastic shields on every subway window (about 25% of the cars already have it, but it'll cost $25m to do the rest). The second solution strikes us as a bit of an overreaction: installing closed-circuit video cameras in every train car. Nevermind the technical problems (who would watch all that footage?), the real problem is our civil-liberties: are we all willing to submit to constant videotaping just to keep subway windows clean?

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By Jake Dobkin in News on May 23, 2006 11:10 AM

Comments [rss]

Max.

Tagging is hands-down the hardest form of graffiti to do well.

That said, go with the mylar shields. Cameras are breakable and expensive to replace.

drew

The thing about the acid-etching, its not just ugly, its pretty dangerous. People are carrying around industrial strength corrosives to do this shit, and who knows how long the acid takes to dissolve the glass. What if you leaned up against the glass right after someone tagged the window?

Boggo

"Maybe some people need to pull out a copy of 1984 and see how much closer we've come to that nightmare in the past decade."

LOL -- can anyone really argue this? We have more freedom of thought and expression than ever before. Internet blogs, the fall of MSM, cheap digital cameras and video cameras to catch cops doing bad things, etc. The price of having more free flow of information is, however, that you leave information in your wake. But it hardly suggests we're closer to "1984." Bah.

Charley

I'm as worried as anyone else about the erosion of our Constitution and intrusion on personal privacy. These are VERY real things to worry about right now...

However; there is NOTHING personal about riding the subway and I have no problem at all with video surveillance of subway cars.

As for an art vs vandalism opinion: Subway windows and doors are meant to be looked through - something very difficult to do when they've been completely scratched/etched...

There is fantastically beautiful subway graphitti to be sure - but it never altered the functionality of any part of the train...

jizzbomb

It's easy to get rid of graffiti. Just replace all the black and latinos with Japanese people. Guaranteed all problems will vanish. Not only will graffiti cease, but crime will stop and you'll get cute little video phone cameras.

nothing like 1984

jr,

I can see the point sailing right over your obviously thick head. Cameras and Padilla have nothing in common. The point was the government can stomp on your rights without technology just as they can use technology and still respect your rights. The fact remains YOU DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO BE INVISIBLE IN A PUBLIC SPACE! Until you can prove the government is going to use the cameras for evil purposes you are merely speculating.

ed_Extinct

You're wrong.

It's a privilege to drive, not a right.

and as The MTA is a privilege so is The London Underground.

As I stated before, you're not being forced to pay for the fare, it's your right to decide whether or not to ride, but as far as riding goes, it's a privilege.

Also, you're swimming away from a Red Nun, not walking.

Learn to spell and check your grammar. C-

cdjames

Cameras = reactive = $25 MM to identify criminals AFTER the crime has been committed and damage done.

NYPD = proactive = $25 MM for NEW cops to address criminal acts BEFORE, DURING, and after the fact. Could PREVENT not only vandalism, but rape, assault, muggings, and [less likely but still] potential terrorism.

The biggest benefit of cameras is obvioulsy having physical evidence of all crime, but I still say a worse ROI than with human-presence.

Tim N.

Chicago Skyway (Toll)

... not a privledge...

Indiana East-West Toll Road, (Interstate 80/Interstate 90)

... not a privledge...

Pocahontas Parkway (Toll)

... not a privledge...

The London Underground

... not a privledge...

my aim is right on...

... if its pointed at your own head...

Whatever. Moving on. Just another nun I've walked away from.

jr

Jose Padilla is exactly the reason why we need to discourage the government from further intrusions on our liberties. Do we really trust a government that will hold an American citizen without charges to watch every move we make?

ed_Extinct

Hospitals are usually public/private and to use them you have to pay for them.

The following is a list of public/private entities that are for public use, but must be paid for to use by the public:

Chicago Skyway (Toll)

Indiana East-West Toll Road, (Interstate 80/Interstate 90)

Pocahontas Parkway (Toll)

The London Underground

my aim is right on...

nothing like 1984

This is nothing like 1984. If every camera were being monitored and records were being kept of what you were doing or what you were reading on the subway then you might have a point. If people were being arrested or detained for things that are NOT illegal you might have a point. But those things could happen without the use of cameras. Just ask Jose Padilla.

Tim N.

You are paying for a service. You're wrong.

“A fanatic is someone who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.” --- Santayana

Nuns.

ed_Extinct

*And it's a privledge to pay $2 for the ride?*

As I stated earlier public/private. You do not have to pay at all, but then again, you don't have to ride it.

Prove me wrong.

Tim N.

It's funny how the idea of a cop on every car is so much less of a thing than a camera on the cars (not to mention that if the MTA runs the cameras 80% of them will never work). Human-to-human contact makes you feel safe, human-to-camera contact makes you feel threatened. Seriously, why do you suppose that is?

jr

The argument isn't about whether someone has something to hide while riding on the subway, it's whether we want the government to be able to watch and document every move we make. Maybe some people need to pull out a copy of 1984 and see how much closer we've come to that nightmare in the past decade.

Tim N.

And it's a privledge to pay $2 for the ride?

The subway is a service, not a gift. Not sure it's a right, but I know you're wrong.

ed_Extinct

Tim N. when you're dealing with a public/private entity it's privelage, not right.

Tim N.

Riding the subway is a privledge? Methinks you overstate your case a bit...

Boggo

CC cameras would obviously be useful for other things, like preventing or solving violent crimes and terrorism. The Mylan, though cheaper, addresses only the scratchiti and etching.