A lot of people have asked me about the recent scourge of graffiti that has been popping up around town. I’ll tell you what I know.
I had a conversation last night with police Chief Tim Quenzer who said they have arrested three kids in the last week alone for graffiti. His point is that the issue is broader than just one or two kids…it seems to be a fad among some of our out-of-control teenagers. We are asking that they be prosecuted for the crimes and be help liable for the damages. In my opinion, if they are minors the kids AND parents should be held responsible. Parents, if you have a teenager and he or she is wandering the streets of our fair city in the wee hours of the morning then you need to get control of the situation. Set your alarm clock for 2am for the next few weeks and poke your head in your kid’s room. (and don’t be fooled by the old “pillows and blankets rolled up under the covers” trick!)

The second thing Chief Quenzer said was that our problem is not unique to Monroe. Neighboring communities are experiencing the exact same thing. It seems to be an epidemic among our young people right now.

Councilman Mitch Ruth had suggested the City put together some graffiti clean-up kits, with recycled paint, etc. to help people clean up the graffiti as quickly as possible. The police say the only proven way to fight graffiti is to clean it up right away. So apparently the Public Works department had assembled some kits for folks, but our City risk manager put the kibosh on the idea. Apparently the risk management department is afraid people will harm themselves with the paint and the city will be held liable. This fear being so remote and silly, Mitch Ruth said he was going to make a call and UNkibosh the kibosh…so we’ll see if those kits are made available soon.

The reason this issue is so important to our community is two-fold: first, it is an aesthetic blight on our community. The graffiti isn’t even creative or artistic. It’s just ugly and crass. Second, the principle of respect for private property is one of the most important things for our young people to learn. We simply cannot allow kids to run amok and not learn one of the most important life lessons they will face…respect for other people’s property.

I will keep you posted on any new developments in the graffiti fight. Let me know if you have suggestions or comments!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Community Forum, Parks, the Arts and Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.