Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Graffiti Attacks on Dobbin Escalating

Over the past year the amount of graffiti in the Dobbin Road area of Columbia has increased substantially. First it was limited to less visible locations along the pathways but now the urban artists are blatantly defacing buildings and now even vehicles.

This stuff is getting out of hand.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not to make light of this serious problem, but I think it is a marvelous testament to Howard County public schools that the graffiti on the generator near Dobbin Center says "We're back!" demonstrating a level of grammar rarely seen in the days of internet and text speak.

Anonymous said...

Grammar and punctuation. Ahem.

Anonymous said...

I blame Gary Arthur.

Anonymous said...

"This stuff is getting out of hand."

Predictably.

Why?

1. Poor outdoor lighting design.

a. Unnecessary illumination of exterior vertical surfaces, both from a duration and intensity standpoint. Nighttime cloudy skies shouldn't glow like they do because of the lighting overkill seen all too often around here.

b. Commercial property light pollution standards that were relaxed by the Council a few years ago, actually permitting in some instances more light pollution and intrusion onto adjacent property.

I am dumbfounded at some of the exterior lights some businesses burn around the clock, illuminating tree tops, beaming direct light source glare horizontally and even upward.

2. Insufficient outdoor design covenants.

Unsolicited contributions then find fertile canvases among the unattended, but already festooned-with-"Hey look at me" advertising with plenty of lighting so the tagger can see what they're doing and know others will see the final result.

When's the last time you found graffiti in a normally dark place?

Dim the lights and enjoy the sights.