City wants talk with graffiti vigilante
10/12/2006, 12:20 a.m. PT
The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — City Hall wants to find a man considered a vigilante for his campaign to discourage graffiti.

The man, who goes by the names "Pete" and "Nascar Dad" on an Internet blog, covers up the work of graffiti "taggers," then posts before and after photographs on his Web site.

City regulators say they do not know his identity — his Web site does not include contact information. But they would like to talk with him so they can explain that what he is doing actually hurts their efforts and could wind up landing him in trouble.

"He's covering it up before we can document it. He's not getting permission from the property owner," said Marcia Dennis, the city's graffiti abatement coordinator. "In those respects, he's a vandal just like the tagger."

Officer Matt Miller, who oversees graffiti prevention for the Portland Police Bureau, went further: "If he doesn't stop, we're going to try to find him and arrest him."

Graffiti is a growing problem: Dennis says perhaps 13 percent of the graffiti seen on Portland streets now is gang-related, up from about 3 percent five years ago.

Miller says the Internet encourages graffiti, as taggers can share their work and egg each other on electronically.

The city spends about $210,000 a year preventing and removing graffiti. If you're a private homeowner, the city will send a crew to repair the damage. Small-business owners can also get some help.

About 25 volunteers have signed up with the graffiti abatement office to help remove graffiti. But it is not nearly enough to handle the hundreds of new paintings each year.

The blogger known as "Pete" entered the scene about a year ago when a private contractor hired by the city to remove graffiti noticed that someone had gotten to a few trouble spots before his crews.

The problem was that he tried to match his paint to the original wall color. Sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he used paint on traffic signs, which in many cases are covered in graffiti-resistant chemicals or special reflective paint. Painting them meant they had to be replaced.

In August, the man took the battle to the taggers. He posted a note on the Web site http://www.12ozprophet.com, a national gathering spot for taggers nationwide to post their work, share tips and trade insults.

Instead, "Pete" urged people to visit the Web site http://www.fightgraffiti.blogspot.com.

The profile on the site, which includes a photo, describes him as a 60-year-old man who is "fed up with ugliness" and says "I want a more civilized world for my two daughters."

City regulators say he must stop. They compare Pete with "the Silver Circle," a 63-year-old man arrested two years ago for painting hundreds of silver doughnuts atop Portland graffiti in what police described as an anti-graffiti statement.

"It's actually kind of laughable," said Carey Gibbar, the contractor who first notified the city. "You can't battle childlike behavior with childlike behavior."

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com