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-- New face of vandalism?

Posted by Magnetonium on Oct-18-2007 03:26:

New face of vandalism?

Haha, a very amuzing article (got in the way of my studying):

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/storie...affitigirl.html

quote:

New face of vandalism?
By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper

A 6-year-old Park Slope girl is facing a $300 fine from the city for doing what city kids have been doing for decades: drawing a pretty picture with common sidewalk chalk.

Obviously not all of Natalie Shea�s 10th Street neighbors thought her blue chalk splotch was her best work � a neighbor called 311 to report the �graffiti,� and the Department of Sanitation quickly sent a standard letter to Natalie�s mom, Jen Pepperman.

Can somebody stop these bureaucrats before they Kafka again?

�PLEASE REMOVE THE GRAFFITI FROM YOUR PROPERTY,� the Sanitation Department warning letter read. �FAILURE TO COMPLY � MAY RESULT IN ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST YOU.�

Since when is a kid�s chalk drawing �graffiti�? Since the City Council passed local law 111 in 2005, which defined �graffiti� as �any letter, word, name, number, symbol, slogan, message, drawing, picture, writing � that is drawn, painted, chiseled, scratched, or etched on a commercial building or residential building.�

In other words, Natalie Shea is not an artistic little girl, but a graffiti scofflaw?

No. The law goes on to say that the scribbles can only be called �graffiti� if they are �not consented to by the owner of the commercial building or residential building.� But how could the 311 caller possibly be expected to know if Natalie had her mom�s consent to use chalk on her own front stoop?

�He could have just asked!� Pepperman said. �This whole thing is ridiculous. Admittedly, this drawing was not her best work � she usually sticks to cheerful scenes, not abstracts, frankly � but to send a warning letter like that is outrageous.�

Pepperman ticked off any number of daily insults to common decency on her block, including (but not limited to) dog poop, garbage from ill-kept homes, and noise from car alarms. But Sanitation didn�t get a 311 call about those indignities. It got a call about a 6-year-old�s drawing.

�The report came in as �graffiti,� and, as you know, the city is trying to crack down on graffiti on private property,� said agency spokeswoman Cathy Dawkins.

�It�s a standard warning letter,� added Dawkins. �The property owner has 45 days to remove it or ask the city to remove it. We�ll inspect after that, and if the graffiti is still there, the property owner has another 60 days before we�ll write a summons.�

For sidewalk chalk that would dissolve at the first rain? Dawkins said the law is on her agency�s side.

�The instrument used � whether it�s paint or chalk � does not matter,� she said.

But if Dawkins is right, than the city has just criminalized hopscotch or drawing arrows to point neighbors towards a stoop sale down the block � as long as a neighbor calls 311 to complain.

In reality, chalkers have little reason to start using invisible ink. The city�s pre-eminent sidewalk chalk illustrator, Ellis Gallagher, says he�s outlining street furniture and other objects for years and never been arrested.

�Cops stop me all the time when they see me drawing on the sidewalk, but once they see it�s just chalk, they always let me go,� said Gallagher, a Carroll Gardens resident.

Gallagher believes that, despite local law 111, drawing in chalk is not illegal. But a call to the NYPD revealed that there�s a lot of gray area.

�According the New York penal law, graffiti is the etching, painting, covering, drawing or otherwise placing of a mark upon public or private property with intent to damage such property,� said an NYPD spokesman.

When pressed to define �intent� or, for that matter, �damage,� the spokesman added: �If it can be washed away, it�s not graffiti, clearly, but it still could be criminal mischief. If I cover your car with mustard, that�s not graffiti, but it�s also not legal.�

Pepperman is holding firm that her daughter is a pretty artist and not a petty criminal.

And for his part, Natalie�s father, George Shea, hoped that his daughter wouldn�t learn the wrong lesson from her �graffiti� crime wave.

�I do love that kid,� Shea said, �but I wish she would stop capping my tags.�