HASSO HERING

A perspective from Oregon’s mid-Willamette Valley

Hate to see that start again

Written November 27th, 2017 by Hasso Hering

That’s the last thing Albany’s struggling downtown needs — taggers. And yet here we are, on Monday afternoon, looking across Second Avenue near Ellsworth, where somebody with a can of red spray paint had gone to work on a cabinet holding, presumably, traffic signal controls.

Similar bits of vandalism have shown up the last few days on the riverside Dave Clark Path. I can’t imagine the motivation for defacing blank walls or concrete paths. Surely taggers don’t flatter themselves that they are making “street art.”

On the riverside path, the lights installed last year at great expense were supposed to discourage trouble. But evidently not. Downtown, on the other hand, these long nights are pretty dark until new street lights are energized in a few months. Perhaps this emboldens people who are up to no good.

For a while, after the last round of tagging was cleaned up or painted over, this sort of thing was largely absent from Albany’s old town and riverfront. Now it’s back. May whoever is responsible be caught and forced to clean up the mess he made. Or may he move on and find something better to do. (hh)





7 responses to “Hate to see that start again”

  1. James Engel says:

    H.H….is this not an expression of our cherished “freedom of speech”? These individuals have a “need” to express & public areas- i.e. open flat spaces, railroad car sides, & other open areas provide a venue for their freedom! They have no concern for whether it’s an appropriate area only that they can express themselves freely! So I ask of them what happened to the concept if you express a freedom where is the connected obligation for responsibility??!! If it’s not your venue then it’s not your right to mark it up! H.H., you & me are from a very different era…JE

  2. Tony White says:

    Uh JE… I think you and Hasso are singing in the same choir.

  3. Mary Brock says:

    When people are buzzed on “legal” marijuana, I guess it is better that they tag things with paint than drive a vehicle while high. Yes, I am also from a different era.

  4. hj.anony1 says:

    Dropping one in the suggestion box. More murals, less tagging vandalism! ;)

  5. Jennifer Stuart says:

    Where I used to live, we would see tags like “XIII”. What kind of gang writes “think”?

    • Jason says:

      I doubt any “gang” has left a “think” tag. Those of us that are informed will recognize this as the pagan cult works of those darn Pythagoreans. Indeed, be wary of those abstaining from beans, they are always looking for an angle…

 

 
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