Graffiti

Merced has lots of artists littered throughout the land. They make wonderful paintings using the only tools they have... a can of spray paint and an empty wall, fence, overpass, or billboard.

I don't know about you, but I get tired of all of the graffiti littered thoughout our beautiful town. I will maybe stretch the truth here and say that Merced has more graffiti than Fresno. You may disagree but if you compare the population of the Fresno Metropolitan area to the population of Merced and then compare the amount of graffiti, Merced would have more.

This is a real problem whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. It reflects negatively on the town's image and probably causes big business to shy away from adding a Merced location.

For instance, as soon as the overpasses and bridges were built on the south side of Merced on the new 99 freeway, they were tagged with obnoxious and cryptic languages that common people driving on the 99 can't even understand. It is a constant reminder as people enter the town from the south of the poor state Merced is in.

The city and the state can try a little harder to prevent graffiti. They have already locked up spray paint and stopped selling it to minors, but somehow these artists still end up with the paint. Why don't we introduce tougher sentences to those caught, on par with other crimes, including license suspension, etc?

Another solution could be offering Graffiti areas, allowing people to express themselves on certain public walls as long as the expressions are tasteful.

We could also open up a Center for the Arts in Merced. The center could rent out studio space (affordable of course) to creative people to run a legitimate business from. Fresno has several of these centers and it is very successful.

I read somewhere about Anti-Graffiti paint that you can paint on surfaces that protect the surface from spray paint and other types of paint. Maybe we should go around coating graffiti targets with this paint and then return with a pressure washer everytime someone tags the place.

I realize that each of the above scenarios has its weaknesses, but something must be done. We cannot sit back and let our city become a giant canvas.

Can anyone think of a better way to handle the situation?

Your thoughts?

Update: clan@elite.net sent the following to me:

You can report graffiti to the Merced Community Action Network's Tag Busters Graffiti Abatement Project by clicking here.

Merced CAN will remove graffiti from private property for a small charge to cover paint costs and removes graffiti from public property also.