Graffiti Exegesis
Downtown Toronto has a tagging problem. I see it in my own beloved nabe, where the residential, commercial and institutional sit cheek by jowl. The longstanding social contract, in which homes were exempted from the spray can’s black wrath, is now blithely ignored by a new generation of graffitists. This is likely connected to gang competition centered around a couple of nearby high schools.
If reducing tagging was easy we wouldn’t see the stuff. One way to increase tagging, however, was established by former police chief Julian Fantino. He declared a war on graffiti during his tenure in the early oughts. The immediate result was a visible uptick in tagging, with his name often prominent in the scrawls.Fantino has since moved on to Federal politics, where no one has yet had the heart to tell him that within the Canadian system one does not typically aspire to the post of Generalissimo.
Toronto’s recently minted mayor, Rob Ford, lofted himself to office on a platform of suburban fear and loathing toward the city’s vibrant urban core. Along with such nemeses as bike lanes and city-mandated fees for plastic bags, he has launched his own crusade against graffiti. Businesses have been peppered with clean-up notices. In their zeal to enforce the mayor’s initiative, officials haven’t taken the time to distinguish between tags and murals, or unsanctioned murals and those commissioned by property owners.
Hence:
See also: