L<3VE

Money ain't grey

From Sunday's T-P comes the article Vandalism or Art? on, well, the recently hot topic of graffiti throughout the city. At the end it referenced a new bill going into effect on August 15, 2008: House Bill No. 163 (Act No. 8), authored primarily by Rep. Tony Ligi, Jr. of Metairie and by my state rep. Walt Leger, III.

It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally deface with graffiti immovable or movable property, whether publicly or privately owned, without the consent of the owner.

Sounds fair enough, though this is pretty much stating the obvious. The big deal about this bill is the maximum penalty is booted up from $500 to $10,000. So, what does this mean for our grey friend who has no qualms about doing his community "service" in broad daylight? What does this bill define graffiti as?

"Graffiti" includes but is not limited to any sign, inscription, design, drawing, diagram, eatching, symbol, lettering, name, or marking placed upon immovable or movable property in such a manner and in such a location as to deface the property and be visibile to the general public.

That being said...

"Deface" or "defacing" is the damaging of immovable or movable property by means of painting, marking, scratching, drawing, or etching with graffiti.

Painting...immoveable or moveable property. Sounds like this includes the Grey Ghost to me. Hopefully the NOPD won't continue to look the other way and will actually enforce the law. On Radtke more than anyone else, largely because he is a menace and dangerous. After the stunt he pulled on Dingler he's got to have something coming to him.

On a completely separate note, I'm curious as to why Sen. Cheryl Gray was one of five nay votes.

A Little To the Left to grayc show details 4:20 PM (0 minutes ago)


Senator Gray,

Could you please explain why you were one of five nay votes in the above matter (RE: higher penalties for graffiti)?

Are you in cahoots with the Gray Ghost?

Thank you.

Grey Ghost Rising?

Mr. Dingler had his day in court today. According to 50smod in the comments of this article the Grey Ghost prevailed. I can't wait to hear the details on this one.

UPDATE: I'm a little confused. Humid City and Leo (of the Antigravity variety) on livejournal state that NOLA Rising prevailed. I interpretted the NOLA Rising blog as a predictor of how his day would go in court. What is going on? 50smod also created a post in the nola.com forums.

UPDATE 2: 50smod says: I apologize if my info was wrong concerning the lawsuit. I was told by, by the owner of the gallery where the painting parties are held, that Radtke had won the lawsuit, and Michael Dingler had gotten away with oly a 200.00 fine, and that is why Radtke had stormed out. If I was wrong, I apologize, and it is a great day in the art world of New Orleans. I do hope i was wrong.

UPDATE 3: Man escapes $50,000 in fines for posting signs in N.O. - but he still has to pay $200 and is on probation for 60 days. So I'd say that is greater than a loss. Fuck you Radtke! Congrats, Dingler!