graffiti

Seems some kids who start up Twitter accounts have taken to soliciting followers on a particular support column in the upper busway at Forest Hills - although as you can see, somebody also took the time to critique their work (and no doubt the T itself will soon join in the critiquing - by way of an application of gray paint).

A quality-conscious citizen reports some anti-China graffiti on School Street in Charlestown:

Low quality graffiti is unacceptable.

An alert citizen looks down and notices one of the stencils with which the stupid network has been defacing our sidewalks, in this case on East 4 Street in South Boston.

A vigilant citizen took a photo of the mess that is now the base of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at the top of the Common, writes:

More graffiti at soldiers and sailors monument - big party here last night. Cleaned up most of it.

The city responds the graffiti "will be addressed as soon as possible."

Earlier:
One man's mission to rid Brookline of graffiti.

An incensed citizen posts a photo of a couple of obscene drawings at the Roslindale Square commuter-rail stop, one of which also has a text explanation, in case you couldn't figure out what the artist was trying to draw.

Wicked Local Brookline details an effort by a guy who goes around town painting over tags and police to crack the town's seamy graffiti underworld. With a guest appearance by Mike Dukakis, who admits to keeping a can of paint in his basement with which to cover over graffiti he finds.

Wicked Local Brookline reports the arrest of Christopher Michael Levett on charges he's the guy who's been marking the town up for months with "Phop." Wicked Local reports a key break came when police talked to his ex-girlfriend, who allegedly broke up with him because he was spending all his nights scribbling in Brookline.

Even as police hunted Phop, the town's vigilante graffiti fighter was busy combatting him in his own way.

Brookline Graffiti delivers what it promises: Photos of graffiti - and the anonymous blogger's war on it:

As you can see, the razor just scraped away what would have been many layers of scrubbing! Usually you have to alternate a layer of scrub with a layer of scraping, as the solvent penetrates on each pass. But in some cases, like on this mailbox, I got almost all of it off on the first scrape.

Whenever I have a smooth surface, I always have my long razor handy. It saves a lot of time, and sometimes, is the only way you’ll get some paints off the surface.

Via Samuel Klein.

H_Boston spotted this plaintive request in Cambridge's Central Square the other day.

Copyright H_Boston. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Boston Police report nabbing five Dorchester teens and a 20something on charges of tagging a beachfront boardwalk and drinking in public.

Matt considers a new effort by the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay to combat scrawls, stencils and band promotions, doesn't much think of trying to curb the flyers:

If you see an old flyer, tear it down and throw it away. If someone you know regularly puts up flyers and leaves the old ones up underneath, tell them to take them down and stop being a jerk. But don't call the cops on them. Don't take $300 out of a 23-year-old kid in a band, out of a broke comic, out of a struggling theater company, or out of a man with a van. These streets are for all of us, and so are these [poles]. Taking all the flyers down all the time makes it impossible for the really little guys to promote, and while it might make your streets a little cleaner, it also makes them more sleepy. You live in a city. There's stuff going on in a city. Instead of trying to stop people from finding out about it, maybe try going to it. ... on the nights that you don't have Back Bay Association meetings, of course.

Tagged up Red Line car, signed with Bezat's tag.

A man wanted on two continents for massive graffiti attacks against subway systems was nabbed in Newark as he was about to board a plane for Paris and has been shipped up to Boston, where he now faces up to three years in prison for allegedly tagging up Red Line trains and Alewife station on Sept. 13, the MBTA reports.

Maxime Christian Bezat, 25, was arrested at Newark Airport on Dec. 3. Although he faces numerous tagging charges in New York, MBTA Transit Police journeyed south to bring him to Boston, which in recent years has become something of the nation's graffiti enforcer.

Bezat, who allegedly goes by "Rask," was arraigned in Cambridge District Court yesterday on vandalism charges; he was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail.

A photo released by the MBTA of a spray-painted Red Line train shows two other large tags in apparently different styles than Rask's. MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said "the investigation is ongoing."

Innocent, etc.

Or did somebody from Allston take a wrong turn off the Expressway? Either way, a concerned Dot rat is not at all happy about this stencil on the sidewalk on Crescent Avenue:

A fed-up citizen files the latest report on somebody calling himself Bold, who keeps scribbling his fool name all over Forest Hills.

With what appears to be pro-Occupy Boston graffiti? WBUR reports.

The Daily Free Press interviews a street artist who sometimes wheat-pastes posters, sometimes does some stenciling and sometimes just sprays her tags on things:

After she finishes, Skeczh said she runs from the site to avoid getting arrested. One street artist she knows hung around too long after spraying a piece in an alleyway and was discovered by police, she said.

Graffiti's gotten so bad in Wellesley town officials have had to put up signs telling people not to spray-paint things. And somebody promptly spray painted those signs!

Boston Police report arresting a Brighton man on charges he was busy spraying his tags on "public poles, signs and hydrants," in the area of Arlington and Hobart streets until he was confronted by people who told him to knock it off:

The suspect, once approached by witnesses and passersby began verbally assaulting them and gave them the middle finger. As witnesses continued to admonish the suspect for his activities, he eventually became physically assaultive and aimed spray paint in the direction of the witnesses which in turn lead to a physical encounter leading to the suspect being restrained.

Adam M. Brandon, 30, of Brighton, was charged with malicious destruction of property.

Innocent, etc.

District E-5 reports they've recovered a can of blue spray paint and are "vigilantly pursuing possible suspects" for five graffiti incidents on April 15 and 16 that police estimate will cost hundreds of dollars to repair.

According to police: A fence at LaGrange and Redgate had obscenities sprayed on it, a car on Emmmonsdale and Linnet had a stripe added, a mini-van on Redgate had a penis spray-painted on the rear window and a garage on John Alden had both a penis and "WR" applied.

Graffiti is an act of vandalism that affects the quality of life in our neighborhood. It is unwelcoming and certainly unwanted in District 5. The perpetrators are usually teenagers who often tag as a prank or to show membership to a group or gang. In the cases reported last Saturday, it is more likely that the suspects were playing a prank.

Absolutely, we shouldn't be encouraging rapscallions to whip out their Sharpies and mark up the T, but you have to almost admire the effort, or at the very least, the amount of time, that went into this defacement of a blank sign on the E line. One wonders if a judge would sentence him based on the number of letters if he gets caught and convicted.

Via Boston Reddit.

Seen inside the Copley Square outbound stop.

Boston Police report arresting a pack of alleged taggers from the 'burbs on charges they marked up several Back Bay buildings early this morning, including a Japanese noodle place, the Boston Architectural Center and the Boylston Street firehouse. Police say one of the spray desperadoes attempted to escape police only to crash her bike into a cruiser.

The five are alleged to have spray painted a variety of bathroom and sexual references, as well as "EAT THE MEEK/POOR" on the rear of the firehouse.

The five allegedly scattered when the po-po arrived around 2:45 a.m.:

Rob Larsen has posted hundreds of photos of Boston-area graffiti.

Meanwhile, Jonas Prang sighs that people like the ones Larsen follows are the reason we can't have nice things, specifically, a mural at the Roxbury Crossing T stop.

AlertNewEngland reports Boston Police set up a perimeter around the former St. Anne's School on Como Rd. this afternoon to catch some kids who allegedly broke in to tag up the roof. One of the kids escaped, but police got him in custody when his father brought him back to the school and turned him in.

Rachel Blumenthal reports somebody spray painted the Make Way for Duckling statues.