Camp Bowie businesses take a bite out of crime
BY SARAH MASON
Fort Worth Business Press
July 28, 2008
Camp Bowie businesses will see if two heads are better than one when dealing with neighborhood crime. While the area hasn’t seen a major hike in criminal activity, members of the Camp Bowie District Inc. are banding together with police to keep theft and vandalism at bay, said Brandy O’Quinn, the organization’s president.
In this effort against crime, merchants of the Camp Bowie District Inc. have united and are developing plans for the newly instated Camp Bowie District Inc. Business Crime Watch.
“Neighborhoods have always been involved [with the police] – like with Citizens on Patrol – but businesses tend to be caught up in their own thing or their own strip,” O’Quinn said. “We as businesses need to help the police departments by being the eyes and ears.”
According to Alison Letnes, Fort Worth’s graffiti abatement coordinator, this is a new role for businesses to take on. Letnes said the city’s graffiti abatement program never held an official partnership with organized businesses.
“It would be a huge asset for the graffiti abatement program to have this relationship with Camp Bowie,” Letnes said. “Citizens on patrol are basically our eyes and ears, not only for police department, but for our program.”
Letnes and O’Quinn are discussing a pilot project to discourage the rising amount of graffiti in the area. Letnes proposed working with graffiti artists, or taggers, to create murals on properties – with the owner’s consent. O’Quinn hopes to take the program a step further and discussed commissioning taggers to do such work.
“Some taggers want to go legit, but they don’t know how or don’t have confidence to approach property owners to get permission,” Letnes said. “And that’s pretty much the difference between graffiti and art: permission.”
Camp Bowie District Inc. also plans to enhance communication between police officers and between businesses in the area, O’Quinn said.
Watching out for other business’ safety and initiating contact during recent meetings is a small step that could make a world of difference to surrounding businesses, said Terry Kearney, a District board member and partner in Lucile’s Stateside Bistro. Kearney, who recently experienced theft at Lucile’s, said a united community of merchants would provide needed support and advice whenever a business is victimized.
“It’s in the really early stages right now, so the key is getting the communication going,” Kearney said. “I just know if there’s a problem next door or down the street, having others watching for you or coming up with ideas can’t hurt.”
http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=8064
Carla Thaler Commentary
As I first started reading this article I got excited. If there is any hope of managing graffiti it will require public-private partnerships. As vandalism grows and budgets shrink municipalities can no longer be the only soldier on the front of the graffiti war. The proposed partnership is a great step in retaining the cleanliness and safety of the district. Businesses should be looking out for each other, but it’s nice to see a formal program highlighting that cooperation.
The Camp Bowie District Inc. has worked hard for the last 8 years to revitalize and beautify their neighborhood. They have made infrastructure improvements including landscaping, held events to showcase the district, and served as advocates for development.
Obviously they have been frustrated by the efforts of graffiti vandals to undo their beautification efforts with their “art”. Taking a stand by agreeing to keep an eye out for vandals and working with police is empowering. Too often businesses are victimized by graffiti with little understanding or recourse.
The article takes a sharp left though when Letnes and O’Quinn start talking about mural programs for the vandals, or even worse paid commissions for vandals. Ideas such as these are the result of well meaning but uninformed residents and communities. Sadly there are many communities that can tell you from experience that these types of programs rarely work as envisioned.
Legal walls, murals, “Graffiti 101″ classes all seem to be the way to give these “artists” an outlet so they will cease forcing their marks on the entire community. Unfortunately a deeper understanding of the graffiti culture allows professionals to predict the future of projects like this.
Contrary to the very vocal graffiti advocates out there, graffiti is not art. It is a crime. The difference between graffiti and art is permission. No matter how attractive the graffiti appears, if it was applied without permission from the owner of the surface it rests on, it is vandalism. The large majority of graffiti vandals do not consider the selves artists. Frequently vandals will state that if it’s not illegal it’s not graffiti. They are tagging for “fame”, politics, frustration, boredom, rebellion, or a whole host of other reasons that have nothing to do with art. So, while they may take advantage of legal walls or mural spaces it is unlikely that the vandals will discontinue their illegal vandalism.
It’s also important to consider a few other factors. How many active vandals are working in the area? Will there be a mural space for each of them? Is there a process for selection? Will there be constraints as to what the subject matter of the graffiti is? Will the vandals that are not selected increase their illegal efforts?
Finally the idea of commissioning the graffiti vandals is outrageous. Of course Camp Bowie and Fort Worth wouldn’t be the first to do this though that doesn’t make it right. A vandal who reaches an “artistic” level of talent has done so by developing his skills on the backs of property owners. Commissioning these vandals to do murals is rewarding their illegal activities and legitimizing their prior (or possibly still current) actions.
What started out as an article of a community that was fed up and willing to fight back quickly turned into the true story of a community that is willing to give in to concessions as a way to “buy” the cooperation of the vandals.
Tags: Business, Camp Bowie, Carla Thaler, Fort Worth, graffiti, Murals, Vandalism
