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# Tag the taggers
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/tag-the-taggers-editor/
- Published: 2004-06-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:38:00.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*By Lance A. Schmidt Santa Monica*

I read with dismay your article about those “artists” that perpetrated the vandalism on the “Whale” mural, (SMDP, June 24, page 1).

Perhaps your writer could explain the difference between art and vandalism to Mrs. Gomez whose son, Miguel, was slain on Thursday by an apparent tagger for his efforts to remove “art,” here in our county. I believe Miguel’s funeral is this week so be sure and show up with pictures of Santa Monica’s “art” just to prove to the mourners that Miguel was misguided.

I have been running by the “Whale” mural for over 15 years and view it as a mainstay of Santa Monica and Ocean Park culture. When I viewed the most recent “art,” I figured it must have taken taggers at least an hour or more to do this. Perhaps if our police force weren’t so busy dealing with the intricacies of our city’s social experiments, they could have been more attentive to our aspiring artisans. But then again, maybe we could spend another $500,000 from the general fund to build a really nice graffiti artist academy and institute.

Graffiti is starting to become prevalent all around Ocean Park and other parts of the city, and the residents are getting tired of it. Please, fix this broken window before it spreads.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062604.pdf?ref=smdp.com)