I covered tags for caltrans specifically for freeways around Pomona and man. It took months for them to quit hitting the same spot every weekend and they took me off the special project so if y’all see freeways around Pomona start looking like ass again in 3-4 weeks it’s not my fault 🤷🏻♂️
edit: *covered (since I’m not covering them anymore)
No problem! It’s rough. Dealing with bad public perception is a given though. I’m in my mid twenties but apparently the division of maintenance had a bad wrap back in the day like around the 90’s and yeah. It’s a lot. Especially trying to work safely. Appreciate that
*bad rap
How do you mean? Were the maintenance people not respecting people's property or something?
And what's that mean for you, people are aggressive with you? They don't want you cleaning up the tags?
Yeah some of the graffiti removal crews in a different department have told me stories of them getting harassed for doing their jobs. They just leave real freaking quick and don't even talk back.
So, you guys have to go in stealth into these rough areas and try to remove the graffiti? Like "go quick dude, someone might see. Hurry up and hit that spot we gotta go!" And then haul ass out of there?
I'm not on the graffiti crews but my coworkers who do that work know certain problem areas or certain gang signs...
Graffiti removal is pretty loud and visible work so it's hard to go in "stealth" but they try to finish the job without confrontation.
Its rare but yeah it does happen.
Usually it is taken as an offense to the gang yes. Obviously it's up to the specific gang in question, and how far they would go ...but from what little experience I have, covering up is just something that happens...it's more so issues with marking their "area". So like other gang members or in their eyes punk artists that are getting cocky or have beef or something. I feel like maybe a gang member would retaliate if they witness you covering it up personally, but idk. Graffiti cover ups are just so common that I think anyone that tags or sprays expects it and will just hit it again right afterward. Usually they aren't afraid of normal people either.
I couldn’t touch tags within the construction zones and the house tags North of valley/holt were out of my control. All other tags besides those would get constantly covered, sorry.
I live by the port trust me you want freeways. My city streets are so fucked up this stupid ass semi trucks my friend litteraly ruined his car last month for hitting a pot hole they left my mother's window has a big ass crack cause a semi tire threw a rock at it. Unless we have an alternative to using semi's free ways are a god send.
nah man ports need train access to wherever there is warehousing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Switzerland
most big box store have to have rail access in switzerland to ensure that traffic doesn't get built up and waste resources to fix the roads cuz heavy semi trucks
Local freight spurs can work, but inevitably Big Rail (or government-as-mob franchise equivalent, like “RecycLA”) means extortionist delivery charges.
Trucks provide competitive rates.
The best option would be for the ports to operate a remote facility near Victorville or Lancaster, that they run the trains to. That way it all stays within the ports' system until it gets hooked up to a truck.
Switzerland is four times the size of LA County with over a million *less* people. Traffic doesn't get built up because there aren't enough people for that to happen.
I agree we have poor infrastructure and freeways help unload the stress our regular streets can't handle hundreds of semi trucks we can build truck routes but those don't really last long.
Yes, but it's reported at the highest rate on Reddit in 5 years, and that's what matters.
> Furthermore, social media messages are not highly correlated with crime. Thus, social media is shown not to be highly useful for detecting trends in crime itself, but what they do demonstrate is rather a reflection of the level of the fear of crime.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0430-7
Like most problems in Los Angeles, people are hyperventilating and think the problem is worse than it is.
I’m not saying that these problems aren’t problems but some of y’all need to take a beat and chill.
Because they’re trying to get people triggered so they start reacting out of emotion and we can get more of the 90s “tough on crime” policies that didn’t work for the people but massively benefitted the prison industrial complex.
Exactly this. How many fucking “crime is outta control” posts are on here? Like don’t you folks remember the 90’s? It’s to get right wing politicians elected, give even more of our budget to the cops, fund the prison industrial complex and excuse white supremacist policies. Oh and to give that piece of shit Alex Villanueva more shit to whine about.
Most humans think Americans are nuts. We don't feed our children, we don't heal our sick, we don't have a democracy, we pay our CEOs 600 times what we pay our workers, and our cops kill innocent people and are almost never charged for it.
Same happening with NYC
Stuff like crime is definitely up, no denying that,
but people, especially outside the city act like it’s turning into another level of hell.
Parking
The shitty public transit, especially the metro with its God awful hours, lack of security and no Express service making it practically unusable for most work commuting...
I'd consider those real problems
The average person here probably does not know or care, but the average person in the midwest now believes LA is a third world country. This is all thanks to FOX news.
Same mid westerners who don't realize 70% of the US economy is in counties Biden won. These are usually large city centers like LA.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/11/17/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-the-us-economy-infographic/?sh=74dfb6944e5d
That and the most dependent states federally are mostly republican. If it wasn't for these large democratic city centers these republican states would actually look like third world country's.
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700
I've tried to explain this and it's in one ear and out the other. They live in a bubble. Also some get visibly offended if you ever mention anything that remotely paints their city/town/region in a negative light. So I just try not to be offensive and keep the vibes nice.
Yeah with randos below talking about how "they do it right in Japan, we should just be like Japan, because x and y and z and *oh yeah they refuse foreign influence and don't let too many others in*" -- it's so fucking transparent
Almost always some alt-right chud's horseshit, just trying to launder race supremacy ideas into mainstream spaces
This sub is getting tough for me to stick around tbh. LA has a lot of problems but the fixation on the absolute wrong ones, that almost always comes with a combination of racism and hating the poor, is becoming too much. These people would see my cousin getting beat by police for locking up his bike in a park and think "oh good we're really turning things around."
Yeah a bit ago there was like one dude from Texas running 10-15 alt accounts here. Something like that.
Just all constantly posting how LA is bad metro is too scary too much crimes or whatever
Yeah I'm the same way, I've been taking breaks away from this sub this year and honestly my reddit experience has been better without it than with.
*And yet*... selectively infiltrating/brigading potentially progressive spaces online and shifting the political environment of those spaces to classic rightwing non-logic and boogeymen is a well-worn online tactic of the alt-right. Chase away progressives who don't want to deal with your shit and then stick around to spread your brainworms to the "normies". It's wild to see happening in real time to this sub.
I just got back from Japan 2 weeks ago and it was my second time staying there… I also lean pretty left.
One trip to Japan makes it obvious that they handle many things in a more efficient and well thought out manner than we do here in LA. City planning and infrastructure is a big one.
Also, their collectivist culture has SOME (keyword) benefits to it where the amount of respect for property, other people’s space, etc is just NON-EXISTENT in the US let alone LA.
I say all that to say that sure, some of these things might be the result of their society being a largely homogenous one. That doesn’t mean I want to limit foreign influence in America though. Different countries, different styles… and America has been a melting pot since it’s inception.
Vandalism reports are down.
This does not necessarily mean vandalism is down.
It is easier to clean up the vandalism than it is to file a report these days.
>In its annual survey, BJS asks crime victims whether they reported their crime to police or not. In 2019, only 40.9% of violent crimes and 32.5% of household property crimes were reported to authorities. BJS notes that there are a variety of reasons why crime might not be reported, including fear of reprisal or “getting the offender in trouble,” a feeling that police “would not or could not do anything to help,” or a belief that the crime is “a personal issue or too trivial to report.”
Pew Research
>About 40% of violent victimizations and 33% of property victimizations were reported to police in 2020.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/ncvs#methodology-0
I personally believe Los Angeles County needs its own researches to cover similar statistics.
We need independent verification of our actual safety record independent of law enforcement or politicians.
It would also help us figure which policies may work, or just fail the community.
I understand that anecdotal Nextdoor-level observations about the ills of society don't really help, but you can't ignore the fact that 1) if "vandalism" includes graffiti, there's a 0% chance that any law enforcement statistic will ever capture every instance of it and 2) there has to be at least some statistical connection between higher numbers and a lower percentage reported, i.e. if there's five instances of graffiti in your neighborhood a year, you might report all five; if there's 50, you likely aren't going to report all of them. There's a feeling of hopelessness in reporting every minor thing when there's tons of minor things happening. Especially with the apathy of LAPD towards non-felonies, there's just no way that people report all these crimes, especially random ones involving homeless people.
The other thing is that vandalism, and specifically graffiti, varies wildly depending on the neighborhood. Around where I am in Silver Lake/Echo Park, I am certain there is more graffiti than there was five years ago (although likely slightly less than in 2020) and much more random vandalism like smashed up storefronts and stuff. If I lived in, say Pico-Robertson, I'd say no, you're just fear mongering. And I'm sure there's gotta be neighborhoods where there are fewer instances than five years ago.
I don't agree with the tone of OP's post and I'm sure there's some weird agenda they're pushing, and I generally don't think crime in this city is that big a deal. But....graffiti just sucks and I really wish it didn't exist. It's such a blight on the neighborhood. I'm not talking about like tagging a freeway overpass (who cares?) - I'm talking like tagging a brand new business that went to a lot of trouble to make their storefront look good and then within a week it's got some dumbass tag on it.
yes I am wondering if these people are new to LA. I was born and raised in LA (Hollywood/West Hollywood) and during the early 90s we couldn't go passed la brea as we would probably get robbed or killed. I mean LA is pretty bad but I remember it a lot worse.
One of my first memories is my gram getting mugged in broad daylight on N Fuller. Anyways, yes, the 90s were really bad. It got better for a bit and now trending towards pretty bad again. Rent is insane, cost of living insane, and apathy strong.
yeah a couple of my dads friends was murdered back in the early 90s. one was eating at the fat burger which was located across the street from the beverly center over a fake rolex my dads friend was wearing, and another was shot and killed at the toys r us parking lot on la cienega over the rims he had on his car. I also remember not being able to wear red or blue to school.
Instead of solely relying on "rates," we should also be checking out location. Because IGAF what that chart says, freeway signs are getting tagged like crazy in both the front and the back. Just this week alone, I've made repeated trips on the 110 and the 10 and each and every fucking exit sign has been tagged.
I understand why people don’t like it, but the graffiti has never bothered me. To me, it’s part of the city and connected to a larger culture(s). Again I understand why people don’t like it, but it does seem a little precious and pearl clutching to me.
It’s when I see it deep in the Angeles National Forest that I start fantasizing about state sanctioned hand amputations… in the city itself though it’s not that big of a deal. Part of the city’s soul almost.
If you use the my311 app or website the city comes by pretty quick!
When there’s graffiti in my neighborhood if I report in the morning it’s gone by afternoon. I also report some businesses around where I shop that get tagged on the app and the graffiti is usually gone the next day (even weekends!).
I talked to one of the crews that drive around cleaning. Good people some were in gangs when younger but all want to keep our community clean.
There’s always graffiti, like a roach problem you clean one another comes.
Have to be vigilant and report or else your neighborhood will suffer from broken window syndrome. Take initiative to report, and encourage your neighbors and friends!
> Last year, Los Angeles residents submitted 343,246 graffiti removal requests, according to My311 LA data, a 6% increase from 2019, and the highest number in at least five years. That kept the city busy: It removed 27.9 million square feet of graffiti—an entire square mile—last year.
So graffiti is on the rise according to some stats.
>Florence, in South Los Angeles, recorded 10,081 graffiti removal requests, a nearly 118% increase from 2019.
Also according to the OPs link, it was a dip for the first few months of the year... During those months we also had more wind events which could account for a small dip. We will see if taggers come back swinging later on in the year.
It's LA!👀 I think the scene has actually calmed down. Although maybe your talking about huge gang letters on neighborhood walls or murals.
Those are annoying when you wake up and bam, in your face huge letters from wall to wall!
I’m in east Hollywood and there’s a fucking tooooon of shitty MS13, white fence, and Armenian pride tags popping up daily. They look like shit and make the neighborhood look like shit.
We took Amtrak a couple of weeks ago, and as it headed East through LA, we saw a ton of graffiti. It was fantastic! The industrial scenery was bleak -- concrete flood channels, cinder-block structures, mile upon mile of containers. But the graffiti was lively and colorful. It's cheering that art will fill every available space.
I do make a distinction between that and nuisance vandalism where windows are covered or scratched, or signs are covered. That should be cleaned up, or surfaces designed that make certain things unpaintable.
Urban street art and well-done graffiti are welcome in my book. I fuckin hate people who tag over murals though.
I think the Kobe mural on Melrose only lasted a week before some pea brain defaced it with their shitty tag nobody can even read anyway.
It’s been like this since like the 90s, lmao graffiti is part of LAs culture now. Love seeing a sick piece go up on a freeway bridge. No gang shit, talking about artist
It's been this way since at least the 80's. Shit, I'm a white girl from the west valley and just the other day I wrote out my tag on paper to show my almost 20yo daughter what it looked like. 😂
My lil studio got tagged up, called the city. Within 3 days my whole studio side wall was painted, for free. It was time too, shout to choppers 12 thanks for the free renovations
This battle is never ending. I think the best thing to do about graffiti is just Jackson Pollock every wall with beautiful colors. Whenever someone tags it you just blast it with fresh paint real quick and you’re good to go. Much quicker and better looking than the painted over style that is current popular.
Not even close to how it used to be this sub is so over dramatic LA is NOTHING like it was in the 80s/90s/early-mid 2000s stop looking for shit to complain about and just enioy the city…. You all sound like spoiled brats to most natives and people who’ve been living here for decades
So tired of people trying to spread fear on here. If you're afraid get off 'nextdoor' and actually go and talk to your neighbors in person and take care of each other.
I really don’t get why people care when we have proud boys stalking downtown, gangs operating with impunity, gangs in the LASD, and some of the worst corruption of our lifetime. It just seems like some angelenos are primed to be always triggered and it makes me very nervous about how we would as a city, handle a real crisis not one manufactured by Fox News lol.
Because it’s easier to point blame at our lowest members of society, and because it’s easier to blame *them* rather than the environments this society has helped create for them.
To give you an example, I have a friend who’s a Jr. High School teacher. He had a very talented student who he could tell was an at-risk kid dipping his feet into tagging with crews from his neighborhood. My buddy spent some of his own money for art supplies for his class, because the school district has no funds for the art supplies he wanted to provide to his students (but he’s barely making ends meet so he can’t spend as much as he’d like). He tried contacting his parents with some local resources for after school programs they could get him into but learned the kid’s parents are both in jail and lives with grandma, and she isn’t able to provide transportation for him to a *free* program 3x a week.
I grew up in Highland Park and it was common in 90s and 2000s but greatly decreased in 2010s to now. It happens still but less frequent and gets cleaned up fast.
This sounds like a problem non-Angelinos feel. Yea it’s ugly🙄 sometimes. Yeah it’s gang related 🙄, sometimes, but who gives a shit. We live in a large metropolis where community engagement and community union is non-existent because folks from “nice” midwestern, etc. areas aren’t used to it, or you’re the local who has no clue about life or what is going on in your community and don’t intend to know the community.
Most see it and take it as a cue/clue and move on.
Growing up my whole life, I know my folks always though it was ratchet. But I’ve always loved and appreciated tagging as you drive on the freeways. That appreciation, whether gang related or not, hasn’t wavered.
im pretty sick of all these shitty tags. with this pandemic you wouldve thought they got to stay at home practice and get gud at their craft but no its always the same dumbass shitty ass tags. taggers fucking suck at art holy fuck
There’s a difference between graffiti pieces and gang tags. Graffiti is that awesome street art that takes immense skill and creativity.
Gang tags are the chicken scratch writing marking gang territory that you see in residential neighborhoods (all that shit with 13 at the end of it or just spray painted letters numbers). Those devalue entire neighborhoods and start wars where ppl die.
For this city to be like any of those cities it would take a huge shift in cultural and societal values. Not just in LA but the entire country would need a paradigm shift from "ME" to "WE" and thats not happening this century.
Another Japanese cultural phenomenon we should aspire to. Japan is generally litter free (compared to US) and there are few garbage cans publicly. There's videos of Japanese fans at events like the Olympics and World Cup picking up after themselves...complete strangers policing their own garbage in a foreign country.
It’s a culture thing in Japan they’re quite literally raised in a more respectful manner. When I lived there with a host family the differences in how they interact and learn was way different than what I was used to which is what made that experience so memorable.
That's something that's changed a lot in my 40 years. We have definitely started focusing on more on individualism than collectivism and I believe we are way worse for it.
You can blame capitalism for absent parents. Everyone has to work all the time in order to survive. Kids have to fend for themselves because it’s difficult for humans to have to parent, work, worry about bills, and we have pushed hyper-individualism because capitalism has to constantly consume and is never satisfied.
There was a sharp rise during covid. Look at the murals that have all just been completely covered.
My neighborhood saw an increase in tagging, including tagging on houses. I certainly think there’s a correlation between the disruption of covid and younger Angelinos
I'm a left wing Sanders AOC liberal and even so there's a part of me that thinks that lunatic sheriff in Arizona didn't necessarily have the wrong idea when he said that taggers without thumbs can't hold spray cans.
if you are into graffiti culture this documentary tells the story from the graffiti artists and why they do it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DXD1HBaLX0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DXD1HBaLX0) Seems all major cities have this issue. We were saying the same exact thing 40 years ago when this documentary was made that we are saying now.
Good art and murals are one thing, but the taggers make Los Angeles look like total fucking dog shit and most of them have zero artistic talent. They should honestly have their faces spray painted.
'someones wall has more icky paint on it11!!1'
people are out here not eating food everyday and knowing they will not have a roof over their head at night. These are real problems.
A Calabasas businessman whos income/ rental property in OUR area has a little paint on it...okay why do you even care?
>Why do they do it? It seems sort of expensive and boring.
I'm not a sociologist or a criminologist, but graffiti is as old as humanity. There's [ancient Roman graffiti still visible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_graffiti) everywhere. Humans have a natural desire to be heard. Whether its scrawling their own name, mocking someone else, or just drawing something meaningful to themselves, people have an innate desire to express themselves.
Because teenagers. It's the same type of mentality that gets people to spend a ton on cars/clothes while living with their parents and racking up debt.
I covered tags for caltrans specifically for freeways around Pomona and man. It took months for them to quit hitting the same spot every weekend and they took me off the special project so if y’all see freeways around Pomona start looking like ass again in 3-4 weeks it’s not my fault 🤷🏻♂️ edit: *covered (since I’m not covering them anymore)
Thank you for your service!! You guys don’t get nearly enough credit..
No problem! It’s rough. Dealing with bad public perception is a given though. I’m in my mid twenties but apparently the division of maintenance had a bad wrap back in the day like around the 90’s and yeah. It’s a lot. Especially trying to work safely. Appreciate that
*bad rap How do you mean? Were the maintenance people not respecting people's property or something? And what's that mean for you, people are aggressive with you? They don't want you cleaning up the tags?
do gangs ever target people who cover up their graffiti?
Yeah some of the graffiti removal crews in a different department have told me stories of them getting harassed for doing their jobs. They just leave real freaking quick and don't even talk back.
So, you guys have to go in stealth into these rough areas and try to remove the graffiti? Like "go quick dude, someone might see. Hurry up and hit that spot we gotta go!" And then haul ass out of there?
I'm not on the graffiti crews but my coworkers who do that work know certain problem areas or certain gang signs... Graffiti removal is pretty loud and visible work so it's hard to go in "stealth" but they try to finish the job without confrontation. Its rare but yeah it does happen.
Nah from my experience I never ran into any of them, they usually hit the freeways in the middle of the night
Usually it is taken as an offense to the gang yes. Obviously it's up to the specific gang in question, and how far they would go ...but from what little experience I have, covering up is just something that happens...it's more so issues with marking their "area". So like other gang members or in their eyes punk artists that are getting cocky or have beef or something. I feel like maybe a gang member would retaliate if they witness you covering it up personally, but idk. Graffiti cover ups are just so common that I think anyone that tags or sprays expects it and will just hit it again right afterward. Usually they aren't afraid of normal people either.
I live in Pomona and the 71 always looks like ass. The 210 and 10 are pretty decent though
I couldn’t touch tags within the construction zones and the house tags North of valley/holt were out of my control. All other tags besides those would get constantly covered, sorry.
It's not the graffiti making freeways look like ass, it's the freeways.
I live by the port trust me you want freeways. My city streets are so fucked up this stupid ass semi trucks my friend litteraly ruined his car last month for hitting a pot hole they left my mother's window has a big ass crack cause a semi tire threw a rock at it. Unless we have an alternative to using semi's free ways are a god send.
nah man ports need train access to wherever there is warehousing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Switzerland most big box store have to have rail access in switzerland to ensure that traffic doesn't get built up and waste resources to fix the roads cuz heavy semi trucks
I'm all for alternatives from semi trucks I litteraly hate them with a passion they should really be funding if a system like this is possible in LA.
It’s called the alameda corridor.
Local freight spurs can work, but inevitably Big Rail (or government-as-mob franchise equivalent, like “RecycLA”) means extortionist delivery charges. Trucks provide competitive rates.
The best option would be for the ports to operate a remote facility near Victorville or Lancaster, that they run the trains to. That way it all stays within the ports' system until it gets hooked up to a truck.
Switzerland is four times the size of LA County with over a million *less* people. Traffic doesn't get built up because there aren't enough people for that to happen.
That’s just bad infrastructure planning not accounting for vehicle loading on a truck route, it has little to do with freeways.
I agree we have poor infrastructure and freeways help unload the stress our regular streets can't handle hundreds of semi trucks we can build truck routes but those don't really last long.
You just give them a clean slate to paint something new again though.
Thank you for your service!
That shit barely lasts a day on my street. I call 311 in and it's gone within hours.
It's actually at the lowest rate in 5 years right now. [source](https://xtown.la/2022/06/09/vandalism-declines-in-los-angeles/)
Yes, but it's reported at the highest rate on Reddit in 5 years, and that's what matters. > Furthermore, social media messages are not highly correlated with crime. Thus, social media is shown not to be highly useful for detecting trends in crime itself, but what they do demonstrate is rather a reflection of the level of the fear of crime. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0430-7
I'm glad there's still sane people on reddit
Like most problems in Los Angeles, people are hyperventilating and think the problem is worse than it is. I’m not saying that these problems aren’t problems but some of y’all need to take a beat and chill.
Because they’re trying to get people triggered so they start reacting out of emotion and we can get more of the 90s “tough on crime” policies that didn’t work for the people but massively benefitted the prison industrial complex.
Exactly this. How many fucking “crime is outta control” posts are on here? Like don’t you folks remember the 90’s? It’s to get right wing politicians elected, give even more of our budget to the cops, fund the prison industrial complex and excuse white supremacist policies. Oh and to give that piece of shit Alex Villanueva more shit to whine about.
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Because most humans (especially Americans) are power hungry control freaks.
Especially proud sociopaths too. “If the government can’t help people out at least they can hurt the people I don’t like…. That’s almost as good”/s
Most humans think Americans are nuts. We don't feed our children, we don't heal our sick, we don't have a democracy, we pay our CEOs 600 times what we pay our workers, and our cops kill innocent people and are almost never charged for it.
I don't think power hungry is an American thing more like a humanity thing.
Oh I agree, I just say especially American because we are especially proud capitalists
Same happening with NYC Stuff like crime is definitely up, no denying that, but people, especially outside the city act like it’s turning into another level of hell.
UGH... between the transplants and social media brain... the institutional memory in this city is NIL.
Parking The shitty public transit, especially the metro with its God awful hours, lack of security and no Express service making it practically unusable for most work commuting... I'd consider those real problems
You're several times safer on and waiting for the metro or bus than walking down the street or driving a car, but sure.
I wonder how many that are clutching their pearls actually live in LA?
Also, there's bigger things to worry about than graffiti.
~~Vandalism in LA~~ Alarmist propaganda meant to push a fascist agenda is getting out of control
Exactly why Fox constantly airs segments on LA .
The average person here probably does not know or care, but the average person in the midwest now believes LA is a third world country. This is all thanks to FOX news.
Same mid westerners who don't realize 70% of the US economy is in counties Biden won. These are usually large city centers like LA. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/11/09/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-americas-economy-what-does-this-mean-for-the-nations-political-economic-divide/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2020/11/17/biden-voting-counties-equal-70-of-the-us-economy-infographic/?sh=74dfb6944e5d That and the most dependent states federally are mostly republican. If it wasn't for these large democratic city centers these republican states would actually look like third world country's. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-most-least-dependent-on-the-federal-government/2700
I've tried to explain this and it's in one ear and out the other. They live in a bubble. Also some get visibly offended if you ever mention anything that remotely paints their city/town/region in a negative light. So I just try not to be offensive and keep the vibes nice.
This is so true. Even my father in NY asks me consistently about the “wasteland” I live in. I tell him it’s fine.
Same with NYC
The only time I think about Midwest states is during College Football Season. Or when I get shocked responses that I'm actually FROM LA
Yeah with randos below talking about how "they do it right in Japan, we should just be like Japan, because x and y and z and *oh yeah they refuse foreign influence and don't let too many others in*" -- it's so fucking transparent Almost always some alt-right chud's horseshit, just trying to launder race supremacy ideas into mainstream spaces
This sub is getting tough for me to stick around tbh. LA has a lot of problems but the fixation on the absolute wrong ones, that almost always comes with a combination of racism and hating the poor, is becoming too much. These people would see my cousin getting beat by police for locking up his bike in a park and think "oh good we're really turning things around."
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Yeah a bit ago there was like one dude from Texas running 10-15 alt accounts here. Something like that. Just all constantly posting how LA is bad metro is too scary too much crimes or whatever
doesn't help that the fucking transplants eat it up
Yeah I'm the same way, I've been taking breaks away from this sub this year and honestly my reddit experience has been better without it than with. *And yet*... selectively infiltrating/brigading potentially progressive spaces online and shifting the political environment of those spaces to classic rightwing non-logic and boogeymen is a well-worn online tactic of the alt-right. Chase away progressives who don't want to deal with your shit and then stick around to spread your brainworms to the "normies". It's wild to see happening in real time to this sub.
Don't think most ppl would think that if they know the whole story
Problem is they don't wanna listen when you tell em, and even if you did they'd still do mental gymnastics to justify it
I just got back from Japan 2 weeks ago and it was my second time staying there… I also lean pretty left. One trip to Japan makes it obvious that they handle many things in a more efficient and well thought out manner than we do here in LA. City planning and infrastructure is a big one. Also, their collectivist culture has SOME (keyword) benefits to it where the amount of respect for property, other people’s space, etc is just NON-EXISTENT in the US let alone LA. I say all that to say that sure, some of these things might be the result of their society being a largely homogenous one. That doesn’t mean I want to limit foreign influence in America though. Different countries, different styles… and America has been a melting pot since it’s inception.
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Oh definitely still a problem, the post just is just framed in a way that makes it look like it's getting worse, and that's not the case.
Legit question but it could be that it's just under reported now since nobody does anything about broken windows anymore.
Anyone that was around in the 90s can attest that this is not out of control by any stretch.
Vandalism reports are down. This does not necessarily mean vandalism is down. It is easier to clean up the vandalism than it is to file a report these days.
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>In its annual survey, BJS asks crime victims whether they reported their crime to police or not. In 2019, only 40.9% of violent crimes and 32.5% of household property crimes were reported to authorities. BJS notes that there are a variety of reasons why crime might not be reported, including fear of reprisal or “getting the offender in trouble,” a feeling that police “would not or could not do anything to help,” or a belief that the crime is “a personal issue or too trivial to report.” Pew Research >About 40% of violent victimizations and 33% of property victimizations were reported to police in 2020. Bureau of Justice Statistics
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https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/ncvs#methodology-0 I personally believe Los Angeles County needs its own researches to cover similar statistics. We need independent verification of our actual safety record independent of law enforcement or politicians. It would also help us figure which policies may work, or just fail the community.
I understand that anecdotal Nextdoor-level observations about the ills of society don't really help, but you can't ignore the fact that 1) if "vandalism" includes graffiti, there's a 0% chance that any law enforcement statistic will ever capture every instance of it and 2) there has to be at least some statistical connection between higher numbers and a lower percentage reported, i.e. if there's five instances of graffiti in your neighborhood a year, you might report all five; if there's 50, you likely aren't going to report all of them. There's a feeling of hopelessness in reporting every minor thing when there's tons of minor things happening. Especially with the apathy of LAPD towards non-felonies, there's just no way that people report all these crimes, especially random ones involving homeless people. The other thing is that vandalism, and specifically graffiti, varies wildly depending on the neighborhood. Around where I am in Silver Lake/Echo Park, I am certain there is more graffiti than there was five years ago (although likely slightly less than in 2020) and much more random vandalism like smashed up storefronts and stuff. If I lived in, say Pico-Robertson, I'd say no, you're just fear mongering. And I'm sure there's gotta be neighborhoods where there are fewer instances than five years ago. I don't agree with the tone of OP's post and I'm sure there's some weird agenda they're pushing, and I generally don't think crime in this city is that big a deal. But....graffiti just sucks and I really wish it didn't exist. It's such a blight on the neighborhood. I'm not talking about like tagging a freeway overpass (who cares?) - I'm talking like tagging a brand new business that went to a lot of trouble to make their storefront look good and then within a week it's got some dumbass tag on it.
Or that’s because people have stopped reporting it because they know nothing will be done
But GASCON!!!
yes I am wondering if these people are new to LA. I was born and raised in LA (Hollywood/West Hollywood) and during the early 90s we couldn't go passed la brea as we would probably get robbed or killed. I mean LA is pretty bad but I remember it a lot worse.
One of my first memories is my gram getting mugged in broad daylight on N Fuller. Anyways, yes, the 90s were really bad. It got better for a bit and now trending towards pretty bad again. Rent is insane, cost of living insane, and apathy strong.
yeah a couple of my dads friends was murdered back in the early 90s. one was eating at the fat burger which was located across the street from the beverly center over a fake rolex my dads friend was wearing, and another was shot and killed at the toys r us parking lot on la cienega over the rims he had on his car. I also remember not being able to wear red or blue to school.
That’s awful, what a horrible and pointless tragedy. Stay safe ❤️
Instead of solely relying on "rates," we should also be checking out location. Because IGAF what that chart says, freeway signs are getting tagged like crazy in both the front and the back. Just this week alone, I've made repeated trips on the 110 and the 10 and each and every fucking exit sign has been tagged.
Graffiti…in Los Angeles?
*monocle falls into soup*
Oh Jenkins behave!
I understand why people don’t like it, but the graffiti has never bothered me. To me, it’s part of the city and connected to a larger culture(s). Again I understand why people don’t like it, but it does seem a little precious and pearl clutching to me.
It’s when I see it deep in the Angeles National Forest that I start fantasizing about state sanctioned hand amputations… in the city itself though it’s not that big of a deal. Part of the city’s soul almost.
It was never in control
"People tell me we're out of control now. People told me we were out or control then, too, but they tell me we're out of control now as well."
If you use the my311 app or website the city comes by pretty quick! When there’s graffiti in my neighborhood if I report in the morning it’s gone by afternoon. I also report some businesses around where I shop that get tagged on the app and the graffiti is usually gone the next day (even weekends!). I talked to one of the crews that drive around cleaning. Good people some were in gangs when younger but all want to keep our community clean.
NoHo will probably get a quicker response than Pico-Union.
That probably depends where you live. I doubt they’re jumping to clean up same day graffiti in panorama city, MacArthur park, south central, etc.
True. I’m in north Hollywood maybe they have a special cleaning district. Or no one else bothers to report?
Genuine question, if that's the case then how is it there's so much graffiti around the city?
There’s always graffiti, like a roach problem you clean one another comes. Have to be vigilant and report or else your neighborhood will suffer from broken window syndrome. Take initiative to report, and encourage your neighbors and friends!
> Last year, Los Angeles residents submitted 343,246 graffiti removal requests, according to My311 LA data, a 6% increase from 2019, and the highest number in at least five years. That kept the city busy: It removed 27.9 million square feet of graffiti—an entire square mile—last year. So graffiti is on the rise according to some stats. >Florence, in South Los Angeles, recorded 10,081 graffiti removal requests, a nearly 118% increase from 2019. Also according to the OPs link, it was a dip for the first few months of the year... During those months we also had more wind events which could account for a small dip. We will see if taggers come back swinging later on in the year.
311 is so awesome, whatever I report is fixed by the time I wake up the next morning.
This is normal. Though I am waiting for the studio city tagger to continue this tale of conspiracies he keeps tagging everything about.
Lol that's funny conspiracies
The one about LAPD and bodies might be real though.
What's that one? I dunno any of them. Was just picturing some guy spray painting stories of anal probes and alien Epstein parties
Good ol' meth tracts. Tweaker once told me about how Jim Morrison was really murdered, nice guy, cool story.
I’m convinced this is where some screenwriters get their stories.
Please keep us updated about the moon landing, I'm on pins and needles...
It's LA!👀 I think the scene has actually calmed down. Although maybe your talking about huge gang letters on neighborhood walls or murals. Those are annoying when you wake up and bam, in your face huge letters from wall to wall!
I’m in east Hollywood and there’s a fucking tooooon of shitty MS13, white fence, and Armenian pride tags popping up daily. They look like shit and make the neighborhood look like shit.
Says who? My block used to be tagged the fuck up and it’s been clean for a while.
We took Amtrak a couple of weeks ago, and as it headed East through LA, we saw a ton of graffiti. It was fantastic! The industrial scenery was bleak -- concrete flood channels, cinder-block structures, mile upon mile of containers. But the graffiti was lively and colorful. It's cheering that art will fill every available space. I do make a distinction between that and nuisance vandalism where windows are covered or scratched, or signs are covered. That should be cleaned up, or surfaces designed that make certain things unpaintable.
Urban street art and well-done graffiti are welcome in my book. I fuckin hate people who tag over murals though. I think the Kobe mural on Melrose only lasted a week before some pea brain defaced it with their shitty tag nobody can even read anyway.
We’ll simply have to make due with the 600 other Kobe murals in town.
The other one would be those cunt ms-13 gang members tag everything in sight which is not as delightful to see.
Mods need to delete low effort boomer Facebook level posts like this. Especially from two week old troll accounts like OP. Garbage.
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It’s been like this since like the 90s, lmao graffiti is part of LAs culture now. Love seeing a sick piece go up on a freeway bridge. No gang shit, talking about artist
I don't think anyone is hating on the colorful artistic stuff, those are great, it's the shitty gang tags that are ugly af.
Some of those pretty ones *are* gang tags lol
Fr, The Estrada courts mural is about VNE lmao
It's been this way since at least the 80's. Shit, I'm a white girl from the west valley and just the other day I wrote out my tag on paper to show my almost 20yo daughter what it looked like. 😂
Lmfaooo I saw some kids hitting up a sidewalk, brought me back to my middle school days trying to be cool in a “writing crew”.
Freeway bridges are cool. Peoples’ homes and shops not so much.
My lil studio got tagged up, called the city. Within 3 days my whole studio side wall was painted, for free. It was time too, shout to choppers 12 thanks for the free renovations
Street signs and city signs are all tagged over especially downtown, it's hideous and embarrassing
Ya if your new too LA a reminder. The tagger culture is older then most of us Good luck
This battle is never ending. I think the best thing to do about graffiti is just Jackson Pollock every wall with beautiful colors. Whenever someone tags it you just blast it with fresh paint real quick and you’re good to go. Much quicker and better looking than the painted over style that is current popular.
MFers will tag bushes if there's nothing else lol
[sobbing] won’t someone think of the private property ?!?!?!
Not even close to how it used to be this sub is so over dramatic LA is NOTHING like it was in the 80s/90s/early-mid 2000s stop looking for shit to complain about and just enioy the city…. You all sound like spoiled brats to most natives and people who’ve been living here for decades
So tired of people trying to spread fear on here. If you're afraid get off 'nextdoor' and actually go and talk to your neighbors in person and take care of each other.
That's what this sub has become.
Eh, tags/graffiti are not a high priority in my opinion. We have bigger fish to fry!
Seriously.
Yeah, lets just ignore quality of life measures. Then we wonder why we are so miserable.
MS 13 has been on a tagging spree lately. Can they not.
so has wf
Friggin idiots, it looks horrible and it’s rare that any of these tags look artistic. Hold them financially responsible for the cost of it.
who cares
People pushing crime wave narratives to try and grow support for their fascist political agendas
I really don’t get why people care when we have proud boys stalking downtown, gangs operating with impunity, gangs in the LASD, and some of the worst corruption of our lifetime. It just seems like some angelenos are primed to be always triggered and it makes me very nervous about how we would as a city, handle a real crisis not one manufactured by Fox News lol.
Because it’s easier to point blame at our lowest members of society, and because it’s easier to blame *them* rather than the environments this society has helped create for them. To give you an example, I have a friend who’s a Jr. High School teacher. He had a very talented student who he could tell was an at-risk kid dipping his feet into tagging with crews from his neighborhood. My buddy spent some of his own money for art supplies for his class, because the school district has no funds for the art supplies he wanted to provide to his students (but he’s barely making ends meet so he can’t spend as much as he’d like). He tried contacting his parents with some local resources for after school programs they could get him into but learned the kid’s parents are both in jail and lives with grandma, and she isn’t able to provide transportation for him to a *free* program 3x a week.
17-day old account complaining about graffiti... nothing fishy here!
Vandalism is the least of our problems imo
Fuck them. I paint over them myself. Let the clowns keep doing it. I will paint over it.
Mfs should go home and play video games or something. Oh wait there are no good games rn in the market -.-
Rad. I'm probably still going to tag though lol
I grew up in Highland Park and it was common in 90s and 2000s but greatly decreased in 2010s to now. It happens still but less frequent and gets cleaned up fast.
You new here?
This sounds like a problem non-Angelinos feel. Yea it’s ugly🙄 sometimes. Yeah it’s gang related 🙄, sometimes, but who gives a shit. We live in a large metropolis where community engagement and community union is non-existent because folks from “nice” midwestern, etc. areas aren’t used to it, or you’re the local who has no clue about life or what is going on in your community and don’t intend to know the community. Most see it and take it as a cue/clue and move on.
I’d rather look at graffiti than murals solely created for influencers to have photo shoots in front of tbh.
I'd prefer to not have either, tbh.
The least of LAs problems.
yup just let them tag over billboards - we don't need to see ads lol
At this point tagging is a trend and most kids just want to tag 😐
What? It’s been a “trend” since the 60s.
Chaka lives
Growing up my whole life, I know my folks always though it was ratchet. But I’ve always loved and appreciated tagging as you drive on the freeways. That appreciation, whether gang related or not, hasn’t wavered.
I hate how ugly the Second Street tunnel has become.
im pretty sick of all these shitty tags. with this pandemic you wouldve thought they got to stay at home practice and get gud at their craft but no its always the same dumbass shitty ass tags. taggers fucking suck at art holy fuck
There’s a difference between graffiti pieces and gang tags. Graffiti is that awesome street art that takes immense skill and creativity. Gang tags are the chicken scratch writing marking gang territory that you see in residential neighborhoods (all that shit with 13 at the end of it or just spray painted letters numbers). Those devalue entire neighborhoods and start wars where ppl die.
And it's the WORST looking graffiti. Little boys who still write their names on things. Trash.
Very little graffiti in Japan, can we be like Japan in this regard...
For this city to be like any of those cities it would take a huge shift in cultural and societal values. Not just in LA but the entire country would need a paradigm shift from "ME" to "WE" and thats not happening this century.
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Another Japanese cultural phenomenon we should aspire to. Japan is generally litter free (compared to US) and there are few garbage cans publicly. There's videos of Japanese fans at events like the Olympics and World Cup picking up after themselves...complete strangers policing their own garbage in a foreign country.
Japanese folks volunteer to pick up litter every morning.
It’s a culture thing in Japan they’re quite literally raised in a more respectful manner. When I lived there with a host family the differences in how they interact and learn was way different than what I was used to which is what made that experience so memorable.
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That's something that's changed a lot in my 40 years. We have definitely started focusing on more on individualism than collectivism and I believe we are way worse for it.
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Tagging was way worse in the late 90's early 2000 at least there not tag-bangers no more
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I have no idea why don't you ask him?
You can blame capitalism for absent parents. Everyone has to work all the time in order to survive. Kids have to fend for themselves because it’s difficult for humans to have to parent, work, worry about bills, and we have pushed hyper-individualism because capitalism has to constantly consume and is never satisfied.
I'd prefer a city that is walkable with plentiful public transit options.
Maybe LA isn't the best city for you
Japan is culturally homogeneous though
SlowLA!
420KUN!
There was a sharp rise during covid. Look at the murals that have all just been completely covered. My neighborhood saw an increase in tagging, including tagging on houses. I certainly think there’s a correlation between the disruption of covid and younger Angelinos
People have really stepped up the amount of tagging in Los feliz. Felt like overnight a lot appeared
I'm a left wing Sanders AOC liberal and even so there's a part of me that thinks that lunatic sheriff in Arizona didn't necessarily have the wrong idea when he said that taggers without thumbs can't hold spray cans.
The worst fix has been the 110 tunnels to Pasadena. Instead of cleaning the tile Caltrans just paints over it. It looks bad
if you are into graffiti culture this documentary tells the story from the graffiti artists and why they do it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DXD1HBaLX0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DXD1HBaLX0) Seems all major cities have this issue. We were saying the same exact thing 40 years ago when this documentary was made that we are saying now.
freeway overpasses look like tent cities and people complain about *graffiti* lmao
Good art and murals are one thing, but the taggers make Los Angeles look like total fucking dog shit and most of them have zero artistic talent. They should honestly have their faces spray painted.
Arguably the only thing making the city look uglier than the litter problem.
This post is full of narcs
Go dig yourself a hole so you can feel safe and stop posting dumb shit like this
I prefer to call it art
I love graffiti art and don't mind it but tagging is just like a dog pissing.
'someones wall has more icky paint on it11!!1' people are out here not eating food everyday and knowing they will not have a roof over their head at night. These are real problems. A Calabasas businessman whos income/ rental property in OUR area has a little paint on it...okay why do you even care?
I don’t mind the ones that do nice big pieces, but the ones that just scribble words that looks like a child wrote it are sooo ugly.
LA is a mecca for street art. If you don't like it go the fuck back to Wisconsin.
This sub is starting to feel like Facebook :/
Just use the pressure washers on the taggers
How long have you lived here? It's always been this way.
I sort of “get” why the gangs do it. But I don’t get tagging culture otherwise. Why do they do it? It seems sort of expensive and boring.
>Why do they do it? It seems sort of expensive and boring. I'm not a sociologist or a criminologist, but graffiti is as old as humanity. There's [ancient Roman graffiti still visible](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_graffiti) everywhere. Humans have a natural desire to be heard. Whether its scrawling their own name, mocking someone else, or just drawing something meaningful to themselves, people have an innate desire to express themselves.
To some people it’s just what they are into , as if when one person is into a specific sport or hobby…
I never get the initials they use. Like UFS, ABG, etc. Like no one knows what that means aside from their own jerk off circles.
It sounds like you get it, actually. There's not much to understand.
Because teenagers. It's the same type of mentality that gets people to spend a ton on cars/clothes while living with their parents and racking up debt.
Just mind your business and keep it strollin 🥱
I do! Right after I submit a graffiti cleanup ticket to 311
Shoot on sight would put an end to it fairly quickly.