San Francisco Graffiti

Gallery UX and Presentation

• Many like the concept but dislike the horizontal, stitched layout.
• Requests: keyboard navigation, visible scrollbars, vertical scroll with margins, better desktop behavior, proper image orientation, and sorting by date/location.
• Some note it works “okay” on mobile but breaks in landscape and traps users in long horizontal scrolls.

Aesthetics and Urban Character

• Several commenters enjoy graffiti and street art, saying it adds character and a “lived-in” feel to cities (SF, New York, Berlin, Montreal, Paris).
• Others find most examples ugly, low-effort, or “demoralizing,” with a few standouts (e.g., murals, koi fish, Banksy) seen as genuine art.
• Some equate graffiti-rich areas with vibrancy and “coolness”; others associate it with decay, garbage, urine, and “ghetto” aesthetics.

Property, Consent, and Harm

• Strong disagreement over whether graffiti is acceptable on blank walls:
  • One side: any unconsented marking is property destruction; critics invite pro-graffiti people to volunteer their own houses, cars, laptops.
  • The other side: blank concrete fulfils its function regardless of paint; walls in dense cities are part of a shared “face of the city.”
• Small business owners describe graffiti as a recurring “tax” enforced by city ordinances that fine owners if they don’t remove tags.

Punishment, Prevention, and Legal Walls

• Proposals range from fines, community service, and short jail stays to extreme suggestions such as public lashings (with sharp pushback calling this barbaric or “fascist”).
• Some argue early, firm consequences prevent escalation to more serious crime; others emphasize alternative paths like paid murals and community art.
• Legal or tolerated graffiti zones (Clarion Alley, Swiss and Zurich examples, underpasses, “graffiti rocks”) are cited as partial solutions, though tagging still spills into neighborhoods.

Social and Political Meaning

• One camp sees graffiti as countercultural resistance, ownership of the city by non-elites, or an outlet for people lacking agency.
• Opponents dismiss this as post-hoc romanticization, calling most tagging selfish ego, territorial marking, or simply crime.
• Debate persists over whether graffiti signals freedom and community or low-trust environments and “broken windows.”

Tagging vs. Street Art

• Many distinguish between tags (names, quick marks) and more complex pieces/murals.
• Taggers are often seen as different from muralists; the former associated with ego or gangs, the latter with messages and craft.