PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Contact: (415) 554-6931
April 23, 2009
CITY ANNOUNCES NEW
STRATEGIES TO FIGHT GRAFFITI
City residents asked to sign pledge
Anti-Graffiti curriculum to be introduced to schools
City to provide sites and opportunities for murals by urban artists
San Francisco, CA – The City's Graffiti Advisory Board announced several programs today to help stem the spread of graffiti and alleviate its strain on City resources. The new programs include a citywide pledge to participate in the fight against graffiti, an Arts Education Project sponsored by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Department of Public Works to connect urban artists with private property owners and others to provide spaces to develop artwork; a school program to educate students about the negative impacts of graffiti vandalism; and a program aimed specifically at wiping out graffiti in Chinatown.
The announcements were made in advance of the City's Zero Graffiti for a Beautiful City event sponsored by the Graffiti Advisory Board. More than 300 people are expected to gather at the San Francisco Hilton to discuss the City's campaign to defeat this vandalism in partnership with residents, business owners and City agencies.
Graffiti is a big challenge for San Francisco and calls for creative solutions. These new programs demonstrate our ability to think outside the box, and create valuable partnerships that will reach out to people to help us rid the city's public areas of unsightly graffiti and tagging, said Mayor Newsom. Illegal graffiti is an unattractive blemish on our city that affects the quality of life, economic development, and social fabric. By working together, we can optimize current resources and better serve the needs of the public when it comes to improving our quality of life.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) will launch an Anti Graffiti pledge at the event, a commitment by participants to report graffiti when they see it, support anti-graffiti legislation that strengthens law enforcement activities, and remove graffiti from their property within 48 hours.
The key to effective graffiti prevention strategies will be in innovative partnerships with residents, businesses and community leaders, said Edward Reiskin, Director of the Department of Public Works. A united front against vandalism, along with creative anti-graffiti programs like these that engage everyone, maximize our chances for success. We also want to find ways for legitimate expression of street art, so that we capture San Francisco's artistic energy in legal, respectful, and attractive ways.
DPW also announced a partnership to increase graffiti abatement services along Chinatown's commercial corridors. This unique opportunity helps educate residents and business owners in Chinatown about the benefits of a graffiti-free merchant corridor. The program will provide education, abatement services and materials for residents and merchants over the next year to significantly decrease graffiti in Chinatown. More than 180,000 people visit Chinatown every day and, unfortunately, it is a significant target for graffiti taggers.
Graffiti and tagging diminish the quality of life that San Franciscans are so proud of. Vandals don't just mark up walls and public spaces, they make our community feel less safe, said Graffiti Advisory Board Chair and Public Works Deputy Director Mohammed Nuru. Dialogue between citizens, the artist community, local community leaders, and City officials is essential in creating a practical plan to end this criminal activity and set up a foundation for a graffiti-free future.
The Board will also announce a school curriculum for grades 4-6 designed by the San Francisco Arts Commission's Arts and Education Program and DPW titled Where Art Lives: A Graffiti Education Project. Launching this fall in six public schools in areas with the greatest incidence of graffiti, the Graffiti Education Project will bring an urban artist into the classroom to introduce students to concepts of public and personal space, the difference between art and vandalism, the treatment of public property, and the value of caring for our public spaces. Students will learn that vandalism creates a downward spiral for communities, degrading entire neighborhoods. A Street smARTS pilot program, which will connect young urban artists with private property owners and others to create new murals on building exteriors and temporary installations, will also be announced.
We are excited to partner with the Department of Public Works on this innovative program, which seeks to re-direct the creativity of our youth in a solution to the City's graffiti problem, stated Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs. Recently, the Arts Commission has exhausted its resources to preserve and care for its public monuments due to the increase in graffiti incidents. By educating our youth and engaging urban artists, we hope to engender civic pride and groom a new generation of guardians to protect and preserve the City's cultural legacy.
Partners and sponsors of the Zero Graffiti for Beautiful City event include, the Office of the City Administrator, DPW, the San Francisco Police Department, SF Beautiful, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Downtown Hilton, Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, Asian American Contractors Association, New Asia Restaurant, Portsmouth Square Garage, R&G Lounge, RAPIDRenu, Norcal Waste Systems, Inc., Shorenstein Realty Services, Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMASF), World Gym San Francisco, the Lee Family Association, and This Stuff Works.
The Graffiti Advisory Board is an appointed advisory committee that advises the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors about the problem of graffiti in neighborhoods and about graffiti enforcement, cleanup and prevention strategies. Graffiti Advisory Board members represent City agencies, private agencies, businesses, neighborhoods, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders that are involved in graffiti abatement and enforcement. The board is staffed by the San Francisco Department of Public Works.
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