The Role Of Graffiti And Vandalism In New York City

Along the walls of any major city, it is almost guaranteed to see sort of bright colored graffiti strewn across. The phenomena that is modern graffiti originated in Philadelphia during the early 1970’s and spread to other urban cities, most notably New York. Many graffiti artists used it as means to showcase their art, while others used it as a public speech and highlight gentrification within the area. Despite its artistic nature, city governments quickly labeled graffiti as a form of “vandalism”, and instilled various programs to rectify the problem. Philadelphia and New York in particular had to most success in subduing graffiti and dealing with gentrification, although in vastly different manors. Many graffiti artists use graffiti to
IN the 1980’s the subway system in New York had fallen into shambles. Rather than fix it, the city and the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Association) let it lie, and graffiti artists took matters into their own hands, “Graffiti called attention to a mass transit system that had fallen into utter disrepair and which the city had no possible means to fix. Many of the more skilled writers saw their creative efforts as attempts to beautify a neglected, ramshackle transit system that had been subject to years of disinvestment and deferred maintenance” (Dickinson 30). Graffiti attempted to showcase the grave condition of the subway system, a system that most people in New York depend on. Individuals from lower income areas especially relied on the subway for means of transportation. It was thought that through graffiti these issues could be showcased and fixed, but that was not the
The MTA funded countless programs to discourage artists, including “restrict access to the train yards through fencing, razor wire and attack dogs meant that the risks involved in getting to the trains increased substantially” (Dickinson 35). The MTA used brutality and force to stop graffiti on trains, and criminalized young adults as they attempted to end the graffiti. Through intimidation graffiti eventually stopped appearing on New York train in 1988, however, “The process was a long, expensive and contentious one, made possible by prevailing notions about criminality and young people of color, and the unwavering determination and support of the business community” (Dickinson 36). Through costly programs that encouraged criminalization of young people of color and intimidation, New York city was eventually able end graffiti on city transit