The Brooklyn Paper: New face of vandalism?.
A 6-year-old Park Slope girl is facing a $300 fine from the city for doing what city kids have been doing for decades: drawing a pretty picture with common sidewalk chalk.
Obviously not all of Natalie Shea’s 10th Street neighbors thought her blue chalk splotch was her best work — a neighbor called 311 to report the “graffiti,” and the Department of Sanitation quickly sent a standard letter to Natalie’s mom, Jen Pepperman.
The ire will no doubt be directed at the local council but what sort of idiot reports a 6 year old for chalking on the pavement?
And this, God help us, is one of the comments on the newspaper site!
Here's the deal, if it is your sidewalk, you own it outright, then chalk draw all over it as much as you please. If it is public property then it is unlawful to draw all over it and expect everyone to accept what you did. There should be an acceptable public place for chalk drawing, like in a playground or park. But kids just can't be allowed to draw all over public property, since that belongs to everyone and should be kept formal. Multiply this child by thousands and you can see the problem very clearly - the city would look like hell and there would be many angry and unhappy victims of this so-called art. Art is never supposed to victimize people or destroy a habitat - that is what graffiti is and that is what graffiti does.
Land of the free....
