Rise from the Dead Graffiti

Every Easter down South Street there is the zombie walk (http://phillyzombie.com/).  Though I am not Christian, I am a religious Jew, and always found this a combination of weird/funny/disrespectful.  Of course I do watch The Walking Dead (and because I make the wifey watch it as well, I am weeks behind - no spoilers please).  Anyway, graffiti is a lot like a zombie - no matter how many times you shoot it/report it, it keeps coming back.  No, I am not advocating for shooting vandalizers in the head (unfortunately breaking the hand is not an option either).  Maybe make them help clean up rather than pay (or in addition to) the $300 fine (http://www.phila.gov/qualityoflife/PDF/online_Graffiti_Upate2.pdf).

5th between Bainbridge and South - Sunday 3/20

5th between Bainbridge and South - Sunday 3/27.  The brown part was cleaned up.

It keeps coming back to this area.  Like clockwork.

This has two weeks worth of graffiti.  Last week was wifey's birthday.  I took off from work on Friday to prepare for her party and did my graffiti hunt further down Washington to spend more time with her on Sunday to celebrate.  Hence, no post last week.  Today I had other plans, but got caught on one particularly bad block (5xx) of Kater St., spending over an hour just on it.  Bad internet connection didn't help.  Anyway, a resident of that block saw me hanging out there and finally asked me what I was doing.  I told her I report graffiti and she said she and her husband had just gotten new siding to her house which was caked in graffiti.  She thought she would have to hire a private person to clean it.  I explained the wonders of Philly 311 and how the City will get to it.  She seemed happy - unhopefully when the graffiti returns she hopefully will report it.

I am not able to figure out who Kater was.  The earliest record of the street name is 1869. (http://www.phillyhistory.org/historicstreets/default.aspx).

Kater, besides meaning tomcat or hangover in Dutch and German, is the surname of the following people:

• Fritz Kater, German trade unionist
• Henry Kater, German-British physicist
• Norman William Kater, Australian physician
• Peter Kater, American pianist

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kater)

I also discovered that there is more bureaucracy than I realized.  Some requests get closed immediately.  I realized that some of them are in the geographic area of the Center City District, hence the Graffiti Abatement Team won't complete.  You have to contact them separately.  Even then, CCD won't do parking kiosks, hence you have to contact PPA.  Oy.  Working on this one. 

Current Map.  Not sure why things are showing up north Broad.  Weird.

Sunday March 13

18th and Walnut and Chestnut - before I realized you need to contact CCD.

Monday March 14

20xx Sansom - eventually e-mailed PPA and they got this pretty quickly.


Tuesday March 15

Also 20xx Sansom.  CCD got the wall.  PPA got the kiosk.

31st and Gray's Ferry - Security gate.  Risen from the dead graffiti.

Wednesday March 16

5th and Lombard

Friday March 18

I ended up reporting a lot of "illegal dumping".  They get the litter on the street, but not the stuff folks leave out "early" on the curb.  I need to do some more research on this on what the law is regarding trash out in front of homes.

They got a good chunk of the Washington Ave. stuff.  Some places, like the prior chocolate factory, may just be too hard to get to.  Oy.  Otherwise, the area looks much nicer... at least for now.  Some of it is still listed as "in progress" in Philly 311.  At least they are trying.



Sunday March 20

3rd and South - isn't it a federal offense to deface a Rita's?

18th and Catharine - around the corner from me.

4th and South

3rd and South

Monday March 21

2nd and Washington.  Nagging me for a while - hard to get a good shot of it until now.  They also cleaned off all the stickers as well.

18th and Christian.  Around the corner from me.

31st and Gray's Ferry.  Been trying to get a good picture of this one for a while as well.

19th and Catharine.  PVC pipe is not listed as surface type in Philly 311.

Tuesday March 22

5th and Lombard across the street from my synagogue.

32nd and Gray's Ferry.  I still need to walk down this area at some point.  Lots of zombie graffiti here.

Wednesday March 23

Fast Day (of Esther) leading into the holiday of Purim.  It didn't stop me from going after graffiti.

9th and Christian

6th and South

18th and South behind Walgreens.

Across the street from another synagogue - 20th and Sansom.  Not done yet (Good Friday is a city holiday) but I did ask from the to let me know if it's CCD or if they can pass it on.

20th and Walnut - not closed out right away.  Maybe Philly 311 is being nice and getting it done even though it should be CCD?

Thursday March 24
Purim!

6th and Lombard - by the historic African-American church.

18th and Bainbridge

6th and Lombard

Columbus Blvd. by I95 off ramp.

Friday March 25

12th and Bainbridge

Sunday March 27

Most of this in and around the 500 block of Kater.  I probably could have gotten more if the internet connection and/or my phone was better.  Anyone want to sponsor that?

18th and Pine - reported to the GPPCC

Behind Rittenhouse Market - 18th and Spruce

18th and Manning - side street north of Spruce.

The above mentioned woman's new siding.

Questions, comments, concerns?

Daylight Savings Time Post

Rosewood St - between Broad and 15th and Catharine and Fitzwater

Losing an hour of sleep did not mean I would lose an hour of graffiti reporting.  Despite being exhausted, I still trekked out.  Without a lot of time, I decided to stay close to home and do a repeat of a some areas I have done before - particularly Catharine St from 18th to Broad.  It was mostly good - not a lot of big stuff.  I did trek down Rosewood St. between Broad and 15th and between Christian and Catharine and Fitzwater and found a lot of stuff, particularly the mural on the school.  Apparently Rosewood goes with the other tree names in the city (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood), not the site in Florida of 1923 massacre of African-Americans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood,_Florida).  This was close to my alma mater, the University of Florida.

Going back through shows how hard it is to stay on top of this.  I wish more people would just report things in front their homes and on their blocks.  Our city would be much cleaner.

Still considering a walk down western Washington/Grays Ferry, Broad, and S 8th Streets.

76 to 95.  The one on North Broad is an error in the Philly 311 system.

Close up of this week and some of last week's.

Monday March 7

5th between Bainbridge and South - always seems to come back to this construction site.

Underpass by 25th and Washington.  Another area I've reported before.

16th and Christian

17th and Christian

Tuesday March 8

17th and Christian

16th and Lombard

32nd and Grays Ferry.  At some point I need to walk this area as it's hard to take pictures and drive.

Friday March 11

They clear out the graffiti on 5th between Bainbridge and South and it comes back.

5th and Lombard

I76 - Exit by 34th St.  Another repeat area.  Again, the Grays Ferry area is somewhere I need to walk.

Sunday March 13

Broad and Catharine.  They keep tagging this mural on a school.  Grrr.

`15th and Catharine.  In an earlier post they got the graffiti that was on the wall.  This time I submitted it as a vacant lot - some trash on the ground and a parking sign in the corner.

16th and Catharine - it's fun to report graffiti at the YWCA!

18th and Pine.  Mailboxes are not handled by 311 so I have to report them to the Greater Philadelphia Postal Customer Council.

16th and Fitzwater - also reported to the GPPCC.

Outfield wall on rec center at 18th and Catharine.  Another repeater.

Some "gay" statements on 18th and Catharine basketball court.

Coming off Exit 20 of I95 South Washington Ave on wall.  I volunteered earlier this morning packing food boxes (there's more than one way to improve your community) and got this on the way home.  I think it's another construction site.

Catharine between Broad and 15th - what is this thing anyway?