Graffiti can be art but it's also a mess

Birmingham.co.uk - Birmingham,UK

By Rav Sidhu

Birmingham has been criticized for glorifying graffiti and not tackling the scourge.

The Keep Britain Tidy group singled out the city's Moor Street station car park and the Soho Loop canal as graffiti hotspots in a national survey.

It also condemned Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery for its 2002 exhibition celebrating the 'work' of Wolverhampton graffiti artist Arron Bird.

The city council accepts there is a graffiti problem but has dismissed claims that it fails to respond, insisting that it deals with offensive or racist graffiti within 24 hours.

The Evening Mail took to the streets of Selly Oak where the council has approved a dedicated graffiti zone to ask residents their views on the problem, which costs the UK £27 million a year to clear up.

Mrs Evelyn Baldwin, a Selly Oak resident for the past 47 years, said: "The graffiti is just terrible, I want it all cleaned up.

"As soon as it is removed it comes back again."

Elsa Clegg, a mother-of-three and a new resident to Selly Oak, said: "It's awful. We need something done

about it. It's so unpleasant and children grow up thinking it's normal behaviour."

Ronald Freeth, a resident of Selly Oak for 41 years, added: "It looks bad, really messy.

"In the right place such as a park it can look creative, an art form. But it doesn't look nice on the houses."

Alan Davies said: "It looks so bad in the area.

"Children have to play around here but they might be too scared to because it looks scary."

Natalie Young, from Hockley, said: "Some of the graffiti is done by talented people and it can look like nice when done in the right place. But it looks ugly on public transport."

Charlette Williams, who lives in the city centre, said: "Graffiti on the trains costs a lot of money to be removed and it's not fair on others who have to pay for that."