Monday, August 3, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 2 graffiti draws attention Anti-graffiti ordinance causes mixed reactions By STEPHANIE STEINBERG Daily News Editor It's on stop signs, mailboxes and ATMs. It's on walls, stairwells and lampposts. Odds are you've seen it on your way to class or walked by it and didn't even notice. It's the word "duck" written in neat cursive. While some call it graffiti and others call it art, its presence - plastered on hundreds of obscure locations on campus and throughout Ann Arbor - is difficult to ignore. Some students have picked up on the trend and have posted inquiries about the artist on blogs. Others, like University alum Preston Hart, have taken pictures documenting the duck tagspots. Hart first noticed the tags on his way to class about a year ago. "From then on, wherever I went I've been kind of on the lookout for others," Hart said. Hart began taking pictures and posting them on his Flickr account, which has 89 images of the graffiti in different places around campus. Hart estimates he has seen at least 50 more. "I think that the average person doesn't really notice it, and that's one of the things that interests me about it because (the tags) are so ubiquitous, especially on Central Campus," Hart said. "The aver- age person with classes on Central Campus probably passes dozens of them unknowingly." Diane Brown, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said University police have had to deal with other graffiti sightings this summer, but said she was not aware of the "duck" tag. Whether it's an individual or a group of people drawing the signa- ture, if caught, Brown said the sub- ject would be charged based on the cost of the damages. "If they use permanent paint then it comes down to what is the dollar amount incurred to clean that up and restore that - whether it's a building or wall or sign or win- dow or whatever it is - (we look at) what dollar amount it would take to restore it to its original situation," Brown said. Brown said the subject would also be charged with a misdemean- or for destruction of property, but the charge varies based on the dol- lar value of the property destroyed. But, if graffiti artists use chalk, they cannot be fined because chalk is not permanent. "If someone drew chalk on the sidewalk then technically there's no damage, and that's considered freedom of speech, and the rain will wash it away," Brown said. Newcombe Clark, owner of Blue- stone Realty Advisors and president 420 MaynardlSt. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com JAMIEBLOCK DAN-NEWMAN Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-647-3336 734-764-0558 jamblock*"mich.edu tmdbusiness*gmaircom CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom office hours: Sun.-Thurs. n am. - 2 am. 734-763-2459 News Tips news@michigandaily.com Corrections corrections@michigandaily.com LetterstothetEditor othedaily@michigandaily.com Photo Department ,hoto@michigandaily.com ArtsSection artsage@michigandailycom 734~-7309 Editorial Page opinion@michig ndaily.com SportsSection sports@michigandailycom Sales dairdisplay@gmal.com 734-764-0554 ClassifiedSales dailyclassified eosil.com Finance "mdfinance@gma.com 734-763-3246 The 'duck' artist leaves his mark on this East Liberty Street building. of the Main Street Area Associa- tion, said he has no knowledge as to who is producing the duck graf- fiti, but said it's more important to remove the work rather than find its creator. "What has been found is that the best deterrent to graffiti isn't doing all the detective work finding out exactly who it is," Clark said. "It's just taking care of the graffiti as soon as possible so that other graf- fiti artists don't see graffiti, because once you see graffiti you know that you can get away with it, and it kind of self propagates itself." In an attempt to eliminate the graffitiscrawled around AnnArbor, the Ann Arbor City Council voted in January to enact an anti-graffiti ordinance. The ordinance requires property owners to remove graffiti from their building within seven days after notification from the city. If they don't, the city will remove the work, and owners will have to pay the city for the expense. While the ordinance took effect in May, Clark said he hasn't wit- nessed any drastic changes to the amount of graffiti in downtown Ann Arbor, adding that residents have to complain in order for the See GRAFFITI, Page 3 EDITORIAL STAFF RobertSoave rsav"" mic*" d ManagingEditor Lara Zade ' ManagingNewsEditor lmzade@umich edu ^ssCATEEn IORS:Stephanie RachelVanGilder EditorialPageEditor rachelvgumche" ASSTN ETO REikCa yr Ryan Kate Managing Sports Editor ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Chantel Jennings David Riva ManagingArts Editor ASCA E ITOR: Jeff Sanford Max Collins Managing Photo Editor macsully@umich.edu Sara Bobotz and Stephanie Farr Managing Design Editors boboltzs@amich.edu andsmfarr@umich.edu Lauren Schmandt Managing Multimedia Editor lacheise@umich.edu BUSINESS STAFF Katie lozwiak Kayla Lafata Meryl Hulteng Ben English als Manager ClssifiedM nger The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. 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