Those of you who know me, you know that I hate graffiti. And I volunteer with a city program called
Graffiti Watch. We get supplies from the city, then we volunteer to take care of a block or two of public property...painting over and cleaning graffiti on things like light posts, garbage cans, mail boxes, etc.
For several months now I've noticed a particularly annoying tag on public and private property. Someone thinks he's a genius because he can write
PE on garbage cans, mail relay boxes, walls, the street, parking meters, etc. It's been a bit of a game of cat & mouse: I find the tags, paint over 'em, then find some more the next week. It's really been pissing me off, and I've been really hoping to catch the bastard in the act. Well today I did
I spent a couple of hours out painting today. Part of my regular route is 14th and Mission, right in front of the Ace Cafe. There are mailboxes and garbage cans there. Since they're in front of a bus stop on the Mission line, they get tagged...a lot. I found the garbage can tagged today, painted over the tags, put up the usual wet paint signs, and went on down the block to get rid of more tags. As I walked back towards the can, I noticed a group of 8 teenagers hanging around the can, moving my wet paint signs. Then I watched as one of them took out a marker and put a big
PE on the side of the can. They hadn't noticed me yet, and I had a dilemma. Do I grab my scraper and pole, walk over there, and Bruce Lee the whole bunch? My every instinct was screaming at me to teach the bastards a brutal and merciless lesson about defacing my neighborhood. But for some reason the intellect took over. I walked over to the can and told the little f$%k that he probably didn't want to get paint on him.
"It ain't wet" he said
"It's about to be..." was my reply...whereupon I took out my roller and painted right over the
PE tag...all the while staring him down and grinning.
I decided to hang out on the corner for a bit, staring the bastard down and grinning the while time. All 8 of the little scamps got on the next bus and left. That was satisfying
The best part? Now I know what the little f$%k looks like
