Martin Mullaney's War on Tagging
Martin Mullaney, Lib Dem Councillor for Moseley and Kings Heath and one of the few politicians in the area I'm aware of with an active blog, has long been associated with his dedicated campaign against graffiti taggers. He even turned up on a tagger's message board last year warning that he was on to them. (Currently this page but it scrolls down - look for May 30th 2006).
Not knowing Martin personally I've been somewhat amused from a distance by his activities, though when I heard that he'd been instrumental in the identification and arrest of three taggers before Christmas it did raise an eyebrow. It's not just talk. He's serious.
On Friday Mullaney posted this 6 minute video to YouTube in which he explores in great detail the tags on a recently repainted building in Moseley. It starts a little shakey, as you'd expect, but he soon gets into his stride, detailing where the taggers live and what schools they go to. Actually you might say he gets a little too enthusiastic at some points. I wouldn't, but you might.
YouTube link
I particularly like the bit where he points out "Fuk Martin Mullaney"
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this subject Martin's video is a fascinating insight into something most of us will tend to blank out, though in the interests of balance here's a video of one of his targets doing some more legitimate graffiti.
YouTube link
(Tip of the hat to Andy Pryke for the Mullaney video link.)
Update: Martin's video has been picked up on by members of the tagging community (as it were) and there's quite the discussion going on there. This is kinda fascinating. Where else would you find teenagers debating with representatives of local government
Not knowing Martin personally I've been somewhat amused from a distance by his activities, though when I heard that he'd been instrumental in the identification and arrest of three taggers before Christmas it did raise an eyebrow. It's not just talk. He's serious.
On Friday Mullaney posted this 6 minute video to YouTube in which he explores in great detail the tags on a recently repainted building in Moseley. It starts a little shakey, as you'd expect, but he soon gets into his stride, detailing where the taggers live and what schools they go to. Actually you might say he gets a little too enthusiastic at some points. I wouldn't, but you might.
YouTube link
I particularly like the bit where he points out "Fuk Martin Mullaney"
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this subject Martin's video is a fascinating insight into something most of us will tend to blank out, though in the interests of balance here's a video of one of his targets doing some more legitimate graffiti.
YouTube link
(Tip of the hat to Andy Pryke for the Mullaney video link.)
Update: Martin's video has been picked up on by members of the tagging community (as it were) and there's quite the discussion going on there. This is kinda fascinating. Where else would you find teenagers debating with representatives of local government
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home