In August 2002 I visited High Bridge Park in Washionton Heights and was surprised, delighted and appalled by the graffiti I found in the section of the park under the sweeping curves of the entrance and exit ramps to the Cross Bronx Expressway. I created this painting in an attempt to capture what I loved and hated about the graffiti covered red wall.

When I visited the parks again, only a month later, I started to grasp the true nature of the situation. Most of the graffiti I'd observed before had been painted over with bright red paint, but despite this, new tags had appeared on top of the fresh coats of paint. Over the next 5 years I'd see this process repeated many times.

I began to wonder how "the authorities" had been drawn in to such a childish and sysiphisian battle over public surfaces, and I began to wonder why graffiti removal had a higher priority than other aspects of park improvement. As the park department battled teenagers with paint over the dreary walls of the expressway overpass, the park lamps remained broken, the pavers continued to crumble from the steps in front of the red wall and the park continued to fail (at least in this area) to serve the public.



There is a popular philosophy in law enforcement and urban planning known as "broken windows." It states that cosmetic improvements and battling so-called "quality of life crimes" are the key to establishing public order. However, the "broken windows" has failed in the case of the great red wall. No amount of paint will make this place a destination for regular neighborhood folks, the kind of destination that is self-policing through the presence of people engaged in ordinary daily activities.

Creating public spaces that work requires thought about how those spaces will be used. Since the steps are broken and since there is no illumination after dusk, since there are no park amenities in this area, no water fountains, no picnic tables or grilling stations there is no good reason to walk under the noisy expressway except to tag the walls with graffiti or, if you work for the city, to paint over those tags. The primary activity for this space is painting the wall. (Or, in my case observing and enjoying the drama of the wall being painted, over and over!)



The only people who use this area sensibly (myself included) are the people who have dogs, who seem appreciate having and area where they can let the hounds off-lease for a bit. Hence, the correct solution to the graffiti problem is to stop worrying about painting the walls, fix the broken walkways, fix the lamps and install a dog run. This will make the area a destination, and alleviate other areas of the park from unsightly dog mess. The increased use will deter graffiti and, at some later date the more unsightly tags can be removed and they will stand a better chance of not returning. We should, however consider keeping some of the more artistic works, they're a part of the history of the area and an improvement to the oppressive blank walls of the expressway.

Cosmetic improvements are important, but it is the changes to the form of a public space that dictate how it will or won't be used. A park that isn't used by anyone but graffiti artists is rightly a graffiti park, and if we want to change that and expand the number of people who can enjoy that space we'll need to build in such a way that people have a reason to be there. Tagging and "untagging" alone won't have any lasting impact.

60 million dollars have been budgeted for park improvements. Let's hope that they are used wisely.

Some of the drawings for the book I'm making about Wall Street for my little niece:



But, not long, not long, as the fair city grew,
they tore down that wall and paved it all over too.

This was called Wall Street, old home of that wall,
lenders, borrowers and bankers, both great and small.




For, this is called Wall Street, old home of that wall,
lenders, bankers and borrowers, both great and small.

[here is the rest of the text, as posted before:]
( Read more... )


Any comments on text and these images? What sort of drawings should I have for the rest of the story?

.... I have a long way to go on this project!

Spring Street
Watercolor 14" x 20"

One more...

Fulton Street
Watercolor 14" x 20"

My latest artwork!

Feral Grouds
Susan Murray, August 2005
Watercolor 16" by 22"

In another forum someone was looking at this artwork and they said:
Hi again...This is great as is...such a shame that people feel they have to deface such a pretty place...

This comment really set me off... can;t quite explain why, but here is my response:

I think it's a shame that the city stopped fixing the paths and lamps and cutting the grass. It's also a shame that the police don't go in there so the whole place is filled with drug dealer's. The biggest shame is the cross Bronx expressway... it cuts right through the park making it dark and scary even on a summer's day. The city has money to keep Bryant Park and The Battery Park in wonderful condition, but not enough for the basics in Highbridge Park. Highbridge Park is one of the oldest in Manhattan. It has a pedestrian bridge that connects The Bronx and Manhattan, the oldest bridge in the city. But it's a shame the city closed it in the late 60s and it's a shame they can't be bothered with opening it... even when they keep all the bridges for cars in perfect working order. It a shame they city thinks so little about people don't drive, that is, most of the people who live here!

This used to be the Harlem River promenade-- imagine women in skirts with bustles and guys with bowler hats out for a Sunday stroll! There was a racetrack called the "Harlem River Speedway" and in the summer the carnival would come and set up down on the boardwalk. Ask any old timer from Washington heights. Highbridge Park was the place to be!

Not anymore.

Considering the neglect, laceration by highways and willful indifference I think the graffiti are an improvement. It's color and energy in an otherwise dead place. If there were no graffiti I'd never go in to this park at all.

Oddly, the city, who can't seem to be bothered to fix a light bulb or even out the pavers in the walkways has time to paint over this graffiti on a weekly basis. I just don't get it. Especially the graffiti on the underpass at the cross Bronx expressway… a stone wall may have some merit, but anything built by Robert Moses is crap. It's almost as if the young vandals can sense the insult the overpass delivers to their park. It's ugly cement pillars stand in five foot height weeds, out of them graffiti rises colorful wild and anarchic. Suddenly, the ugly overpass has become playground. It makes my heart sing. It’s a shame more people don’t feel the same way.

( So how do you like my new painting? )

Delivery
Watercolor.

I had to quit my bike-messaging job. Bike messengers don’t make very much and I guess it makes more sense for me to put my more financially lucrative skills to work. Honestly, though, bike messaging was the best job I’ve ever had. I’ve never looked forward to working more or felt better about the work that I was doing than I did over the past five weeks. When I quit I told them I’d be back. If I get a job teaching I can still do it in the summer. Happiness is working hard all day and going to sleep with you muscles humming. I’m in fantastic shape and I feel so good. I wish I could stay this way forever.

Office jobs may pay more, but you have to pay the price of wasting away in dry air-conditioned cubicles. At lest teaching keeps me on my feet… I wish I could find a job that paid a living wage where I could work outside and do real work instead of just shuffling papers. I don’t understand the way this world works. The best-paid jobs involve the least physical effort. It seems backwards to me.

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I give you my newest art work:
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My newest one... I need a title...

And some feedback.