Midtown Graffiti problem

[mean]

If this person was just spraying a small tag, then he wasn't there for very long. These guys move pretty quick. The exception and the reason I ask is that there is a crew called the Mayhem crew that is real active right now. They are the ones who leave the 5 ft wide by 4 ft tall "EYE" and "NWA" burners on walls.

OK, yeah, if you see someone--or a group--doing something that elaborate, then they're going to be around for a while. Call. My previous posts assume we're talking about the guys who just spray and dash. Calling the cops to come look at someone's tag, when the tagger is long gone, is a waste of time. They pretty much have to be caught in the act by the officer to be prosecuted, unless you can give a very detailed description and they catch a guy matching your description nearby with a can of paint or something.

[Cyclops]

You're right Mean, and I'm guessing that's what Justin saw the other night, a fast moving tagger. I checked out that location this morning but didn't see anything too elaborate. I had just seen the larger piece courtesy of the Mayhem crew next to the Post Office the other day and was curious if he saw them at work.


Paintfumes, don't EVER do me any favors.

[Paintfumes]

Dont forget Cyclips. Jan 10th is the hearing for Club Static. Oh you probably have to be at work. dont ask me for another favor.

[schugg]

here's what i found.  darn shame, thats a nice looking wall too.

[Paintfumes]

have you ever thought of helping and get some graffiti remover and remove it yourself then you wouldn't have to look at it. You'll feel like you have accomplish something good in life.

[Tosspot]

There's some roaming little speech impediment who calls itself "Karma" who has vandaled relentlessly with his placards all over the city. It pisses off my dad so much that he seriously considers writing in similar spray paint "likes little boys" underneath the vandals' original inscription.

[schugg]

There's some roaming little speech impediment who calls itself "Karma" who has vandaled relentlessly with his placards all over the city. It pisses off my dad so much that he seriously considers writing in similar spray paint "likes little boys" underneath the vandals' original inscription.

sounds like a good idea toss.

[mean]

That's exactly the kind of tag I'm talking about. Calling the cops on someone doing that is stupid, cause the'll be long gone. Calling cops on folks like those who sprayed an elaborate tag over the entire highway sign indicating which lanes go to I-35 off I-670, on the other hand...

[Cyclops]

I cruised down to the Freighthouse district to get a picture of the stone wall that had been abused by the Mayhem dudes. It had been cleaned off. It was there on Tuesday. The owner of the building told me a few weeks ago that he was going to alert the Crossroads Association about it. Looks like he did and hats off to the Crossroads Association for moving quick. You could still see a little of the black paint in the old mortar but unless you're looking for it, you wouldn't really notice.

[Moniker]

This is for my writers, my real graffiti writers. Pump ya'll fists in the air, throw up your lighters. We all have a little b-boy living inside us...

~m.

[Cyclops]

Ah, the romantic angle.

It's a fine yet sometimes hypocritical line I walk Moniker. I really do enjoy graffiti. The art of a really good writer. Or the amazing talents of character guy. Someone who takes time to work on a piece. Just ask my permission before you redecorate the side of my building.

But that wouldn't be 'real' now would it.....

[Paintfumes]

Yo Moniker,

try spraying a word , " Bahua" on the side of a building downtown.

[justin8216]

Justin, could you be more specific as to the location of the stone wall? Also, I'm confused about one thing in your post, did you watch him spray at several locations in Westport? You're probably right to assume he was leaving his tag everywhere but I was curious if you followed him for a while. If this person was just spraying a small tag, then he wasn't there for very long. These guys move pretty quick. The exception and the reason I ask is that there is a crew called the Mayhem crew that is real active right now. They are the ones who leave the 5 ft wide by 4 ft tall "EYE" and "NWA" burners on walls. These guys are real assholes (that is my opinion) and pride themselves on nailing the prime visual locations. There's one right next to the post office (by Marios), they just nailed a 90 year old stone wall in the Crossroads and I even saw one on the construction trailer at the Federal Reserve site.

It's the really large tags / burners / whatever that costs business owners a lot of money to get rid of. The Crossroads Community Association has a great program to deal with 'bad' graffiti. Here's a link to their website and the anti-graffiti initiative.

http://www.crossroadscommunityassociati ... Letter.pdf

As far as I know Westport doesn't have anything similar but I could be wrong. I haven't been a member of the Wesport Merchants Association for a long time.

In my opinion there is a huge difference between good graffiti artists like Scribe and Gear who paint on permission walls and are decent people who respect a business owners property and guys like the Mayhem crew who are just getting their name out.... wherever they want.

I'm guessing that the cops are well aware of these dudes and would love to catch them in the act. Make the call!

Actually as I wrestled with wether I should use the sacred 911 "emergency" number to report a crime I was witnessing in progress, I  did turn my car around and drove by him.  It took me several minutes to turn my car around and go back. So each time I caught him tagging in a different spot in the blocks near the Osco Drug. The third time he obviously noticed he'd seen my car before, as he looked right at me and spit. So I let it go and got out of there. He was doing small gang tags like the ones on every single dumpster, news paper vend, and building exterior in Westport. It was a stonewall on the diagonally running street immediately off westport rd. I think there is  a church there or something. I have a dentist apt today at st Luke's, I'll drive through westport while I'm down there and get the exact street name if you like. The point is this man could have probably easily been picked up, no doubt probably already has warrants. But I was afraid to use 911 because my life was not in danger. Perhaps they could put up a special 24 hour graffiti intervention hot-line that would dispatch a dedicated police patrol. Graffiti costs property owners thousands of dollars to remove. Seems like a good use of tax dollars to do everthing to prevent it. I live in KCK and I drive all over my city, and when I see graffiti on public property, such as street signs, lamp posts, etc, I report it to the hotline and it is gone litterally the next day. I see the same graffiti on a street sign in MO for what seems like years. I guess I have the impression the KCMO has decided to accept and live with it, so that affected my decision not to call the police. I had the belief that they would be the ones with the apathy. If I didn't care I probably wouldn't have even noticed as I drove by him like about 10 other cars. I do care, and that is why I drove by him 3 times, I figured I could at least spook him off. It is quite possible that this man had some kind of knife, maybe even a gun. And don't tell me I'm paranoid or I'm stereotyping. I did put myself in harms way because I care about my city being covered in graffiti that makes it look bad. And yes I consider KCMO "my city". I consider this whole metro "mine". And I will do anything to protect it.

[justin8216]

here's what i found.  darn shame, thats a nice looking wall too.

That would be the wall. I'll have to say I was afraid to use 911  because it was not an emergency. People always tell me only use 911 for an emergency. If it is a busy night I could be tying up an operator while someone with a real emergency is waiting on hold. Have you ever seen the movies where someone dials 911 because they are being chased and they get put immediately on hold. That is what went through my head when I decided not to use 911.  But I really wish I did anyways as I saw two police cruisers going down main st as I was leaving the area. I guess if they did get mad at me for using 911 what were they going to do to me. Write me a ticket over the phone?

[justin8216]

OK, yeah, if you see someone--or a group--doing something that elaborate, then they're going to be around for a while. Call. My previous posts assume we're talking about the guys who just spray and dash. Calling the cops to come look at someone's tag, when the tagger is long gone, is a waste of time. They pretty much have to be caught in the act by the officer to be prosecuted, unless you can give a very detailed description and they catch a guy matching your description nearby with a can of paint or something.

This was a spray and dash. He was not "long gone" though. I saw him at several locations, in the same couple of blocks. He was on foot. The police are in cars. They definately could have caught him, if I did call and given a description and location, one of the police cruisers in the area surely could have drove up on him red-handed with the spray can. I haven't read any of your other posts, because I need to leave soon, but I will. But from the select posts I've read so far, I am getting the impression that your attitude is "oh well they probably wouldn't have been able to catch him, so they shouldn't have even tried."  Even if they couldn't  catch him doing it, at least he would have got the impression that somebody cared enough to report him and the police cared enough to check it out. It took him all of maybe two minutes. But I saw him in several locations, all within the same block. The police could have at least scared him off preventing any more. And just maybe if these guys get the impression that people do care they will stop. Maybe people besides me  caring is too much to wish for.

[lock+load]

They definately could have caught him, if I did call and given a description and location, one of the police cruisers in the area surely could have drove up on him red-handed with the spray can.

So basically you are the reason this guy is still on the loose.  Is it that hard to call the cops?  Just because you are unsure if 911 is the appropriate number to call does not mean just blow it off completely.  911 will direct you to the appropriate place if it isn't them.

[justin8216]

So basically you are the reason this guy is still on the loose.  Is it that hard to call the cops?  Just because you are unsure if 911 is the appropriate number to call does not mean just blow it off completely.  911 will direct you to the appropriate place if it isn't them.

I did the right thing. I was told not to use 911 unless it is a real emergency. I thought allot about it, before I made my decision. If KCMO wants you to use their 911 system to report graffiti in progress then they need to mount an education campaign to let people know that is okay. You propose using 911 as information, which I cannot support. That would be completely irresponsible.  I did not "blow it off",  because of me this guy knows that civic-minded people like me are watching and are not going to stand by and let them ruin our city.

[lock+load]

I did the right thing. I was told not to use 911 unless it is a real emergency. I thought allot about it, before I made my decision. If KCMO wants you to use their 911 system to report graffiti in progress then they need to mount an education campaign to let people know that is okay. You propose using 911 as information, which I cannot support. That would be completely irresponsible.  I did not "blow it off",  because of me this guy knows that civic-minded people like me are watching and are not going to stand by and let them ruin our city.

If you would like to contact the police about a crime in progress, no matter how serious, and you don't know another number, 911 is the place to call.You are right, he does know you are watching him, and he can STILL get away with it.  You did "stand by," or, just kept driving by.  You did nothing about the situation other than posting on an internet message board the next day.  That isn't going to solve the problem.

[justin8216]

hahah...i agree with mean here...

there isnt a gang presence in midtown that i know of, and im walking or riding my bike all over it all the time.

they are just taggers. fortunately in my neighborhood, the really big stuff gets cleaned up pretty damn fast.

i think the more important question here is if justin was ok to drive. 

This is a ridiculous thing to post. I will have to say I am thoroughly disgusted with the attitude on here attacking me for wanting to do the right thing, instead of attacking the criminal, or Kansas City, MO for failure to do something about this growing problem.That is what should be debated here. From the posts I've seen it's no wonder MO is covered in graffiti. There is not a building in Westport that does not have these tags on them. When will the city act?

[lock+load]

This is a ridiculous thing to post. I will have to say I am thoroughly disgusted with the attitude on here attacking me for wanting to do the right thing, instead of attacking the criminal, or Kansas City, MO failure to do something about this growing problem. There is not a building in Westport that does not have these tags on them. When will the city act?

WHEN SOMEONE CALLS TO REPORT THE ACT IN PROGRESS!!  You've come here looking for a pat on the back when you did nothing but witness a crime and allow it to go unreported.  Did you call the next day when you could find the appropriate number and report what you saw?  The police could then have at least a description on file.

Wanting to do the right thing is worthless.  You have to DO the right thing.