Graffiti on the east wall of vacant house at Hintz Road and Haddow Avenue.
Arlington Heights police received a report just after 12:00 p.m. Saturday of gang graffiti painted on a vacant house on Hintz Road near Haddow Avenue. The house is a two-story new construction on a lot that recently consisted of a one-story ranch home.
It is unknown how Arlington Heights handles gang graffiti on private property. Developing …
Graffiti at vacant house under construction at the northeast corner of Hintz Road and Haddow Avenue.
The City of Chicago has Graffiti Blasters is a program to eliminate graffiti, street art and gang-related vandalism within the Chicago city limits. The program is structured as a privately owned business based in the city government. Graffiti Blasters uses soluble abrasives (baking soda combined with high pressure water) and paints matching the city’s official color scheme to erase all varieties of graffiti. Graffiti Blasters promises free cleanup within 24 hours of a phone call to 3-1-1. Prior to the program’s inception, the city considered itself responsible only for graffiti removal off of city property — private property owners had to shoulder the cleanup costs for graffiti on their own property.
According to the City of Chicago web page for Graffiti Blasters, in 2009 Graffiti Blasters is celebrating its 15th anniversary and has cleaned more than 1.6 million instances of graffiti vandalism. It has become one of the most popular municipal services offered by the City of Chicago, and a role model for other cities.
View Arlington Heights Crime Blog 6/20/2009 to 6/19/2010 in a larger map
That isn’t gang graffiti; it’s just kids messing around.
You shouldn’t worry residents unnecessarily by calling it gang graffiti if you dont know what gang graffiti looks like.
Chicago Cold War —
LOL Arlington Heights residents don’t get all worried about a little graffiti — whether it is gang graffiti or wannabe graffiti. Maybe it was high school kids or maybe the garden club went all out and let loose. Whoever did the deed is disrespectful of the owner’s property and the neighbors of the owner. And that’s still a crime. The fact is YOU don’t know who did it unless YOU were there.
As far as alerting people to gang activity in Arlington Heights — it is a known fact there is gang activity here and in other suburbs nearby, not just the City of Chicago. Thus, The Cardinal is not putting out a false alert. My brother is a police officer in one of these nearby suburbs: He tells me that every day and night, in each of these suburbs, punks with criminal histories and gang affiliations are uncovered on traffic stops or investigations. Sometimes they’re wanted and sometimes they’re not. But they have all sorts of criminal pasts along with their gang associations: burglary, assault, aggravated battery, invasion of privacy, home invasion, attempted murder, robbery, possession of dangerous drugs, manufacture of a controlled substance, delivery of a controlled substance, unlawful use of a weapon, theft, fraud, obstruction of justice — and more. So listen cold case ‘Chicago Cold War’ — you are either ignorant, full of baloney, or deliberately wanting suburbanites to be naive about gang activity in the suburbs for your own criminal opportunities. Which is it?
I never denied for a second that there is gang activity in the burbs. But this graffiti is not GANG GRAFFITI. I document gang graffiti in Chicago and this isn’t it. My point wasn’t to create a false sense of security for suburbanites, but don’t call it something that it isn’t. You can call it graffiti and vandalism but unless you can clearly identify the symbols and the meaning behind it you should change your description.
And YOU weren’t there either…if you want you and your readers to know more about what real gang graffiti looks like, you can come to my flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagocoldwar/
Chicago Cold War — The Cardinal didn’t say it WAS gang graffiti. The Cardinal published that it was REPORTED as gang graffiti.
The Cardinal appreciates your input, and by first impression sighting, your flickr account looks impressive. We agree there is gang activity in the suburbs. And I will agree with you enough to say that the house marked here might not be marked by classified gang members. We’ll be settled just fine if you now agree that The Cardinal is not trying to worry people, unnecessarily. Incidentally, gang members were arrested for other charges 2 miles from this tagged house just this week.
Marking up someone’s property is a crime that most people in the area take seriously, whether the offenders are gang members or not.