August 15, 2015

“What a great way to change the chi of the neighborhood!”

Submitted by Bernadette

From Katherine:

I asked Professor the following question about graffiti on the subway trains in New York.

In the mid 1980’s a program was instituted to eliminate all graffiti from subway cars in New York. Every night workers painted out all graffiti, beginning with the 7 train connecting Queens to midtown Manhattan. Every morning the cars went out clean. The cleanup on all trains took from 1984 to 1990, when other expressions of disorder in the subway system were also targeted by management (such as fare-beating).

Crime in the New York subways dramatically declined.

But, as Professor mentioned before, when space is tight (as it is in Manhattan), one of the cures to release the pressure, is for people to express themselves with color. That expression was effectively shut down, so I asked, “What can we expect in the future? What is happening to the youth of New York without this natural expression – the use of color?

Professor answered:

It remains a question whether or not this action by the city was the best way to solve the problem.

Youngsters, and adults, need a way to express themselves. It may be a normal reaction to shout at our children when they misbehave, and it may be normal to spank them. It may be more effective to sing, or dance, or even hit the keys on the piano. It is important that we guide our children.

In this case, we could designate a place for them to draw. Now it seems that they are scratching the windows of the subway cars, doing even more damage (for the repair is extremely costly). Someday, it may be that they “scratch people instead.”

We need to think carefully.

And, now we see that residents are giving color a chance!!! I love this.