Is this an effective use of spray paint? Circle one: y/n
SFist took a look today at @TechHateCrimes, which documents aggression towards “techies” in various forms, though nobody seems to be able to tell if it’s earnest or a parody. Meanwhile, we were alerted to this bit of analog social media conversation responding to the rich people of the city and the “Gentrifuckation”.
Beau tweets “Found on my way to the Women’s Building last night. Class tension on the rise in SF.” This, like some MM comment threads, could just be one person with a couple of different pens, or a legitimate call and response. No way to tell. Either way it’s graffiti and it’s a crime. I don’t condone crime. I also have problems with the way that this city caters to the rich and has not done enough to reach out to support the residents with less financial means, and is not reacting quickly enough to address the problems that arise when the income gap inflates as quickly as it is right now. People with a lot of money are able to commit crimes that have large scale repercussions and get away with them. The city is reacting swiftly to graffiti vandals, however, by moving to make sure they pay for the damages if caught. Which makes sense, sure. But is graffiti one of the big issues that we, all of us, are dealing with right now? It’s a big issue for property owners, that I understand completely.
I find it understandable that some people can feel like San Francisco doesn’t care about them, that they are not spoken for, not represented, and not cared for by their city. These feelings can leave some people with little hope and little trust that they will be able to truly advocate for themselves by playing by the rules. Unfortunately this drives some people to feel as though they need to write on a utility box to be heard. I wish that wasn’t the case.
Suck it, property owners! Cool tag, Brian!
(Kinda weird how he’s hovering six inches off the sidewalk though, right?)
[via Storts]
UPDATE: From the looks of his Facebook page, the artist seems to be from Philly. Here’s an exchange with a fan on his wall:
Anthony Mangano: I hate Brian Wilson
Get up: HAHA I expect lots of that! They love him out here tho, doin it for the people haha
Lydia Chávez at Mission Loc@l reports that a brick was hurled through the window of the Sirron Norris Studio on Valencia Street.
Lame for sure.
Source of the photo and the rest of the story here.
Also from Mission Loc@l, a new Reyes piece in the making on the Walgreens at 23rd and Mission.
Sirron Norris was previously covered on Mission Mission here.
We’re famous! Xeni from Boing Boing liked that photo in that last post down there so much, she put it in her Flickr favorites. Update: Oh snap, we just blogged on Wenday.