By Martin Gould Santa Monica
I must protest at the use of language on the front age of your June 24 issue concerning the vandalism of the “Whale of a Mural” on Ocean Park Boulevard.
First, you call those responsible for this criminal act “amateur graffiti artists” then you compound it by talking about “skilled members of the graffiti-art community.” Would you ever describe thieves as “skilled members of the shoplifting career community?” How about attempted murderers as “amateur life-terminators?” I didn’t think so.
Ocean Park and Sunset Park – and I am sure other parts of Santa Monica – have been attacked by petty acts of this scribbling on private and public property for some months now. I urge you to send a photographer down to walk the streets and alleys and take a look. He or she will find curbs, lampposts, utility poles, road signs, walls, garage doors, even trees that have been damaged not by skilled (or unskilled) members of the graffiti-art community but by criminals.
Let’s stop minimizing this wanton and pointless act, pretending it is a harmless prank. It is not. It is outright vandalism and should be treated as such.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2004. Read the original PDF.