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CRP Statement on Oakland’s Proposed Anti-Graffiti Ordinance

On November 2—just four days before the election—City Attorney Barbara Parker and Councilmember Nancy Nadel released a proposed amendment to Oakland’s municipal code which targeted graffiti vandals. Under the proposed ordinance— whose impetus reportedly came as a result of “Occupy”-style protests—graffiti would be classified a “public nuisance” and offenders charged with misdemeanors, rather than citations. The ordinance also calls for increased penalties—including fines as high as $750 per infraction—makes parents liable for damages caused by underage offenders, requires business and…

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Gardena and the Inflatable Felony

This is the first of a three part series by the Community Rejuvenation Project on the perpetual criminalization of aerosol culture, the abatement industry and the politics of incarceration. We begin with the problematic issue of “charge stacking,” which occurs when a prosecutor increases the severity of a charge or adds additional charges to an arrest to add leverage when making a plea agreement. This phenomenon was documented in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow in relation to the drug…

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Street Art vs. Gang Injunctions

This is the third in a three part series by the Community Rejuvenation Project on the perpetual criminalization of aerosol culture, the abatement industry and the politics of incarceration. In the last two articles, we address the inflated penalties and intense criminalization of the aerosol movement. This is further demonstrated in the article below. MTA crew has been targeted with the first ever gang injunction against a writing crew, apparently in response to a huge “blockbuster” painted on the walls…

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Los Angeles’ War on Aerosol Writers

This is the second of a three part series by the Community Rejuvenation Project on the perpetual criminalization of aerosol culture, the abatement industry and the politics of incarceration.  In the first article, we addressed the methods that law enforcement uses to inflate vandalism charges, pressure them into plea bargains and then cash in with exorbitant fines and fees. In this article, we address the prison industrial complex and the realities faced by everyday youth swept up into this system through…

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Richmond Refinery Fire Spotlights Need for Increased Environmental Awareness

For Immediate Release – August 14, 2012 (Richmond, CA) For the past few weeks, the Community Rejuvenation Project has been hard at work at the Greenway in Richmond, part of a collaborative effort with Urban Tilth and the City of Richmond. In addition to the planting of new gardens and the creation of artcrafted benches, the project includes new murals highlighting eco-friendly themes, such as an emphasis on alternate transportation and less dependence on fossil fuels; and more plants, producing…

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Blight Reduction in Oakland

Blight in and of itself is bad enough. But longstanding problems surrounding the city’s much-maligned Building Services department—which include a noncompetitive bidding process for city contracts, exorbitant fees charged to property owners, and little to no community oversight or involvement in the process—only make matters worse.

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Why Murals Beats the Buff

Despite graffiti’s noble origins in rebellion and its evolution into elaborate calligraphy which has set the trends in art and culture for four decades, the mainstream view is that graffiti tagging — the root signatures from this movement — represents an eyesore.

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