Zoo mural covered in graffiti again

June 21st, 2009 · 30 Comments

The colorful mural in the 57th St. underpass has been hit by taggers again.

PhinneyWood reader JM sent us these photos.

Last year, taggers hit the same mural near the zoo, and the city accidently painted over it, sparking a neighborhood controversy. Cleaning crews with a high-tech sprayer were able to revive the mural to its living color.

This is what a section of the mural looked liked before the new wave of graffiti. (Thank you JM for sending us the photos.)

Tags: Uncategorized

30 responses so far ↓

1 Kerri // Jun 21, 2009 at 11:17 am

Don’t people have better use of their time? It’s one thing to tag a plain wall, its another to destroy art.
2 motorrad // Jun 21, 2009 at 12:20 pm

To the disrespectful prick: Up your game! If you are going to screw someone else’s work, throw up something of better quality than what you are covering. Plenty of other wall space to throw up a crappy unimaginative tag with marginal technique at best, rather than ruin work you couldn’t do in a million years. Keep practicing those arcs and circles. That’ll get you far. Your choice of colors is as uninspired as your work.
3 Greenwood_D // Jun 21, 2009 at 1:19 pm

I agree with motorrad.
At least disrespect someone’s work with something that’s better.

What a minute, though. Aren’t we “glorifying” these knuckleheads by displaying this worthless, talentless piece of garbage???

I would think about taking these images down.
You’re giving these imbeciles exactly what they want: exposure.
4 joemomma // Jun 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm

It’s one thing to tag a plain wall, its another to destroy art.

Utter bullshi

tell the business owner that has to pay or take time out of their day it’s just a blank wall.

either way it’s graffiti.
5 lauram // Jun 21, 2009 at 2:17 pm

I agree that these pix give too much publicity to the tagger. Rather than show it like this, is it possible to photoshop it so that you can see that it’s graffiti, but not recognize the tag?
6 Greenwood Gal // Jun 21, 2009 at 3:15 pm

What motorrad and Lauram said.

The number 1 reason people tag is for self promotion– please don’t feed their egos: remove the photos, or at least blur the tags so they are unidentifiable.

Keeping the photos as is will only perpetuate the problem.
7 Jean // Jun 21, 2009 at 3:51 pm

Two year olds whose parents couldn’t or didn’t teach them any better, my children have never done anything like that.
8 Atticus Finch // Jun 21, 2009 at 5:11 pm

Whoever it is, they have a steady hand. Those large radiuses are difficult.

Back in my day, we tipped over outhouses.
9 Stupid Hippie // Jun 21, 2009 at 5:12 pm

You all need to learn to embrace urban hip-hop culture; tagging is a creative outlet for the oppressed in society.
10 liz // Jun 21, 2009 at 5:20 pm

The Aurora underpass mural is also marred. The thing to do is go out and fix the murals if we care about them. It’s pointless railing against the perpetrators who don’t read this and who, in any case, view the situation in a different way from most of us who do read this.
11 motorrad // Jun 21, 2009 at 5:52 pm

As Greenwood D mentioned, take the photos of the tag down and leave the ones of what it is supposed to like like. Has the city been notified? THe paint comes off easier when fresh. Isn’t much of a challenge to tag a place that is dark and you can see traffic coming many minutes in advance. FYI, those arcs are no big deal.
12 jm // Jun 21, 2009 at 7:38 pm

I think the photos document a problem.
13 Jordan Schwartz // Jun 21, 2009 at 9:52 pm

Agree that photos of the tags shouldn’t be displayed. It’s what the taggers want, and will encourage more tagging. I’ve seen taggers specifically mention the publicity they’ve gotten in their graffiti in the past.
14 jm // Jun 21, 2009 at 10:18 pm

The taggers have their own web sites. You think they care about Phinneywood.com? Let their parents see what their teens are up to at night.
15 motorrad // Jun 21, 2009 at 11:22 pm

The parents…that’s funny! Like they would know, like they would do anything. Catching the idiots in the act is the only way to get them.
16 Josh // Jun 22, 2009 at 6:22 am

There’s an old SNL skit where Kevin Nealon would add “Sucks” under someone’s tag. That may be our last option, or just ban / monitor the sales of spray paint, but that would turn it into an underground commodity. Oh, the harsh realities of urban life.
17 SPG // Jun 22, 2009 at 6:39 am

I’d like to see the city treat each tag as a legal signature. Document the tags before they’re removed and then when the tagger is caught you can charge him for the removal costs of all their tags. I think these clowns would think twice if they realized that they’re going to be on the hook for thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of community service.
18 SPG // Jun 22, 2009 at 6:40 am

oh, and the style? C’mon didn’t we see that in the ’70s? Bubble letters? Really? Epic Fail.
19 Seattle Mike // Jun 22, 2009 at 8:24 am

I agree - the tag itself should be blurred. They do this for the publicity. The more quickly tags are covered over, the less likely they are to reappear.
20 jm // Jun 22, 2009 at 9:18 am

Publicity? They do it to be annoying.
21 Mr. Rogers // Jun 22, 2009 at 4:49 pm

I Heard the the man who painted that graffiti is a 35 year old black man. He’s a known PCP user so be very cautious.
22 greenwood saget // Jun 22, 2009 at 5:13 pm

what makes a mural any more valuable than a fill in?
some colors? go smoek a chode
23 Hazel Salon & Organics // Jun 22, 2009 at 8:19 pm

The glass front door of our salon was tagged a day ago. Etched into the glass. I just had our name painted on the door. I am hoping a buffing will take it out. Otherwise not only am I paying for replacing the glass, but the painting too. I just put every penny I have into this place.
I reported it to the police, but they didn’t take a photo. I am with SPG at #17. I am tired of criminals having no repercussions.
24 jm // Jun 23, 2009 at 4:27 am

Hazel, sorry to hear about the front door mess. Almost every business in the area has the scratching and etching. The vandals enjoy destroying things for some reason.
25 GreenwoodGal // Jun 23, 2009 at 10:40 am

Ditto #17!

jm #12: Documenting the problem is a good idea, I’m just not pleased about the publicity for the taggers. If SPD could use the photos to prosecute, THAT would be awesome!
26 anon // Jun 23, 2009 at 7:12 pm

You know what would be awesome? If someone caught a tagger in the act and beat the snot out of them with a baseball bat, and word got out that tagging was now a hazardous pass-time. That would be awesome.

Sniveling on this board about how the mural got tagged (again) and oh wo’ be unto us, why can’t SPD do more, blah, blah, blah - well that’s just typical Seattle lame. SPD has a catch and release policy for taggers, so thinking that’s an avenue for solutions to this problem is a pipe dream. Get a clue, folks.

And I especially like the commenters who said “well, gosh, if it were just a plain ol’ wall it’d be alright - but why’d they have to go and ruin that pretty mural.” You loser apologists just don’t get it, do you?

Hazel - if you decide to bite the bullet and replace your glass, you should consider covering it with an anti-etching film next time. Call TAP Plastics down near Seattle Center. 3m also makes a new anti-graffiti film as well, but it might be harder to find.
27 greenwood saget // Jun 24, 2009 at 2:38 pm

i have infromation leading to the prosecution of the vandals

dcups is a pre schooler with a wooden gun and a run dmc tape in his walkman

graffiti is funny
28 jm // Jun 24, 2009 at 4:18 pm

Vandals, bums and stupid criminals. Some people are warped and have to destroy things. They are not creative.
29 jm // Jun 24, 2009 at 6:36 pm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38186959@N03/sets/
30 Bill Franklin // Jan 2, 2010 at 8:12 am

Last year these 2 vandals put my son George in Harbour view over 20$ and a few hits of crack. God damn graffiti writers.