Vandals Destroy a Portland Oregon Community Garden

[Plant Woman]

That's good news, but I wonder what they will do to protect it?

[Qingdai]

Today's headlines: Offers of help pour in after vandals hit Portland garden; Alaska man on a walk charged by 900-pound grizzly - Northwest Headlines

They didn't mention anything specific, but it should already be surrounded by a fence (most community gardens are). More patrolling is likely.

[chunksmediocrites]

I think that destroying the garden is messed up, but keep in mind the director was quoted that in 35 years she had never seen the like. It is an anomaly, and with publicity and community concern will hopefully remain so.

[MonCapitan2002]

I think it is pretty fucked up that vandals would destroy a community garden. If these scumbags are caught, I think they should be jailed and then forced to watch as their prized possessions are destroyed before their very eyes. Let's see how they like it when they are on the receiving end of their behavior.

[chunksmediocrites]

Eye for eye and violence is revenge, and not particularly edifying or just. Instead, set them up with community service hours with one of the organizations like Gleaners, Food Not Bombs, and other secular and/ or religious groups attempting to rescue food in Portland and redistribute it to the needy and hungry.

[godfry n. glad]

Even though you buzzkilled my harsh fantasy, I have to agree, chunks.

[Nullifidian]

Originally Posted by chunksmediocrites

Eye for eye and violence is revenge, and not particularly edifying or just. Instead, set them up with community service hours with one of the organizations like Gleaners, Food Not Bombs, and other secular and/ or religious groups attempting to rescue food in Portland and redistribute it to the needy and hungry.

As a member of Food Not Bombs chapters in both Lawrence, KS and here in San Diego, the problem is that many jurisdictions require that community service be served with an approved charity, usually a legally incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit. That doesn't describe either of the FNBs that I've worked with. (The one in Kansas was run by a group which also operated a community garden.)

In fact, after a group of us, including myself, were arrested and sentenced for our parts in a protest, I joked that we might consider getting 501(c)3 status for our group just so that we could volunteer with it as a way of serving our sentences.

[Angakuk]

Why is this news worthy? It sounds like your garden variety vandalism to me.

[Garnet]

* Garnet groans

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by chunksmediocrites

Eye for eye and violence is revenge, and not particularly edifying or just. Instead, set them up with community service hours with one of the organizations like Gleaners, Food Not Bombs, and other secular and/ or religious groups attempting to rescue food in Portland and redistribute it to the needy and hungry.

No. It is justice. They should know what it is like to have the things precious to them destroyed. Maybe then, they would understand how their victims felt when they discovered the state of their garden.

After having their stuff destroyed, they should then be forced to do community service as well.

[Master Taran]

Originally Posted by Angakuk

Why is this news worthy? It sounds like your garden variety vandalism to me.

Somebody call the pun police.

[lisarea]

But how can you determine the appropriate punishment when you don't even know who did it or why?

What if they're kids who just don't have the capacity to fully understand their actions? What if they're ten years old? Eight? Seventeen? Fifteen? What if they've never had a parent or anyone to teach them right from wrong? What if they don't have anything precious to them that you could destroy? Would any of that make any difference when deciding how they should be punished?

What if destroying the garden is some kind of retribution against the community for some injustice they've suffered? In other words, what if it's already some extra-legal version of eye for an eye punishment? If that were the case, perpetuating that would just be an escalation.

There would almost have to be something fundamentally wrong with someone who would do something like that, and maybe some genuine attempt at rehabilitation would be the more productive than exacting some retribution.

But in any case, you've got to find whoever did it first and try to figure out why they did it before you can decide the best way to address it.

[MonCapitan2002]

Good point. I concede on the issue here. I do think it is extremely unlikely that the perpetrators will ever be found, though.

[Demimonde]

It sounds like teen gang activity to me. We are starting a community garden, and I have forwarded this news piece to the gal who is organizing it, in the hopes that we can learn from it. Thanks for posting it PW.

Vandalism in our hood happens all the time. In some places the grafitti goes up again before the owners' recoat paint is dry. It is a constant battle. We also have a number of area "artists" who always sign their work. So you can see who is doing it. It drives Mr. Monde apeshit, and he can be less than charitable in his views of correct justice.

But I have to agree with lisarea, most of these kids have nothing. Nothing precious to destroy, nobody to give them guidance but older punks who are more jaded than they are. A night of tagging is a far cheaper thrill than even catching a movie in this economy. It also can give them a psychological boost, making them feel that they are in control or elevated in esteem. I really think that depression leads to destructive gang activity more than anything else.

Now when neglected houses are being restored and they start throwing rocks through historic glass and wood windows, Mr. Monde has to hold ME back. It is senseless destruction. For the people who are invested in making the neighborhood a better place, it sucks big ass donkey dong.

But these boys, like it or not, are part of the neighborhood. They grew up here. They've been here longer that the new blood restoration folks. Gentrifying isn't enough, prettification projects for the new blood isn't enough. It serves as a reminder, for me at least, to keep pushing for better oportunites in the area for these at risk youth. That is the only way to make the comunity a better place instead of just a prettier one.

Otherwise, it's just an endless cycle of white washing over the grafitti one more time.

[chunksmediocrites]

We have a pocket park across the street from our place with one small old-school climbing play structure. It is barely maintained by the city so a lot of people in the neighborhood have been working to keep it nice. It got tagged pretty heavily so we helped repaint a few coats on it before final designs; some neighborhood kids then tagged it and wrote vulgarities across it.

We talked to one of the organizers in our neighborhood, as Qingdai had seen who had been there tagging, and here's what he did:
First, he was engaged with the kids in the neighborhood- he had given them a piece they could use with their skateboarding, had an old bike seat that one of them wanted that he helped them switch on a bike, etc.
He explained what was going on in the park in terms of, "Hey, I do x, y, z,* around the neighborhood to help make things better around here and I am proud of what I do, I let everybody know. So here's the new words and such written and scratched into the park structure- and I figure since this is someone's work, then if they are proud of their contribution then they should have no problem with everybody knowing it is their work. One of your neighbors saw you over here when this work was done- are you proud of the work and okay with everybody knowing?"

He denied it then said oh it was this kid and that kid though he was present.

So the organizer said, "Okay, I know them, I'll ask them the same question. But I want to do things in the neighborhood that everyone can be involved in and feel good about. We're going to finish painting the structure soon, and I don't want to paint over other people's artwork. When we finish, do you want to help with the painting?"

Yes.

And when he went to talk to the other kids (or parents if the kids couldn't be found), the answer was also, yes, they will help finish the painting on the structure.

It is not the only solution and probably not applicable to many neighborhoods- but it was reasonably elegant- he's not telling anybody what to do and he's getting them involved in the process so they have some sort of stake in it.

I kinda like my neighbors.

*friends of trees, tool library, neighborhood clean-up, block party, slow down signs, park maintenance, etc.

[MonCapitan2002]

Originally Posted by Demimonde

It sounds like teen gang activity to me. We are starting a community garden, and I have forwarded this news piece to the gal who is organizing it, in the hopes that we can learn from it. Thanks for posting it PW.

Vandalism in our hood happens all the time. In some places the grafitti goes up again before the owners' recoat paint is dry. It is a constant battle. We also have a number of area "artists" who always sign their work. So you can see who is doing it. It drives Mr. Monde apeshit, and he can be less than charitable in his views of correct justice.

But I have to agree with lisarea, most of these kids have nothing. Nothing precious to destroy, nobody to give them guidance but older punks who are more jaded than they are. A night of tagging is a far cheaper thrill than even catching a movie in this economy. It also can give them a psychological boost, making them feel that they are in control or elevated in esteem. I really think that depression leads to destructive gang activity more than anything else.

Now when neglected houses are being restored and they start throwing rocks through historic glass and wood windows, Mr. Monde has to hold ME back. It is senseless destruction. For the people who are invested in making the neighborhood a better place, it sucks big ass donkey dong.

But these boys, like it or not, are part of the neighborhood. They grew up here. They've been here longer that the new blood restoration folks. Gentrifying isn't enough, prettification projects for the new blood isn't enough. It serves as a reminder, for me at least, to keep pushing for better oportunites in the area for these at risk youth. That is the only way to make the comunity a better place instead of just a prettier one.

Otherwise, it's just an endless cycle of white washing over the grafitti one more time.

I have to say that I strongly agree with you in this regard. The problem is providing those at risk teens with those opportunities. They have to want them in order for them to work.

[Qingdai]

Kids and teens naturally want feedback and attention from adults. It's really a win-win.