Program Executive Director Mi-chelle Phillips blamed the spike on the combination of the Easter holiday, spring break and lingering, criminal angst over the Fourth Avenue riots. Graffiti hit the front pages in February, when an apparently conscienceless group of vandals smashed icons and sprayed graffiti on numerous surfaces at the beloved Mission San Xavier del Bac. Taggers hit 19 Midtown businesses hard last June. Not everyone is tracking a rising trend. But regardless of its relative frequency, graffiti will continue to be a problem that probably costs area governments, businesses and homeowners thousands of dollars each year while adding to urban blight in a community that can ill afford such eyesores.
Most civilized people view graffiti as little more than gratuitous machismo in a spray can.
What's worse, police say, is that graffiti is often a sign of gangs marking their dominance over an area. Judging from some of the sanctioned work by taggers decorating some public walls in Tucson and elsewhere, it's also easy to see that many taggers have artistic talent and no small degree of dedication. It's art in the truest form. We're not a bunch of hoity-toitys. But anyone who has had to stand sweating in the sun painting over graffiti would certainly disagree.