Mayor Barrett Appoints Graffiti Supporter to City Anti-Graffiti Committee

You just can't make this stuff up!  Talk about being anti-productive and wasteful.

In Obama-like fashion, Mayor Barrett appointed graffiti supporter Reggie Moore to his Anti-Graffiti Policy Committee. Mr. Moore is the putative head of Center for Youth Engagement, which (based on the fact that the website has had less than 250 page hits and no substantive information) seems to be nothing more than a shell consulting firm. He also lists himself on his Linked-In profile as Assistant Director, Youth Activism for the American Legacy Foundation but we can find no mention of him there. He also lists himself as the Board Co-Chair of Funders Collaborative on Youth Organizing. Although he is listed as a Board Advisor we can find no corroboration that he is a Board Co-Chair.

More curiously, Mr. Moore is ALSO the Vice President of True Skool's Board of Directors. True Skool has been the recent focus of several raised eye-brows for its graffiti training program and has drawn the ire of Milwaukee Alderman Bob Donovan for promoting graffiti in his district.  This organization suggests its mission is as follows.

"We believe Hip Hop can be a tool to reach, teach and build foundations for young people to create real change in their communities. Since the Civil Rights Movements, there have been few driving forces that unite cultures and classes like Hip Hop. We understand that the billion dollar and worldly popular Hip Hop industry has deviated far from its cultural origins of the 1970s and 80s of Peace, Unity and Having Fun. Current media coverage of Hip Hop culture is filled with negative stereotypes and degrading messages to youth who are increasingly lured by the manipulation of materialistic greed. Whether it is through community activism, addressing environmental issues, or youth programming and events, we explore how Hip Hop has been and continues to be a means and voice for social change."

Hip Hop as a teaching tool, really?  Funny, we didn't need to use beatnik philosophy to teach kids in the "good old days."  One wonders how Mr. Moore has been advising Mayor Barrett and what city anti-graffiti intelligence he might be covertly leaking to True Skool staff and attendees. Typical anti-graffiti programs involve the placement of live and fake cameras. Hmmm, wouldn’t it be valuable for a tagger to know the difference?

True Skool Director Sarah Dollhausen-Patterson’s husband Eliot Patterson is the Program Director and a well-known graffiti advocate and many True Skool attendees are there under court order for tagging vandalism.

The City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services expressed the following

"...Sharon Blando, special enforcement inspector with the Department of Neighborhood Services' graffiti program, said that while the mural was legal and approved by the building's owner, it appears to have prompted an "incredible amount" of illegal tagging throughout the neighborhood between Saturday night and Sunday. There were several illegal tags within 15 feet of the project, including on garbage cans and a fence, she said.  Covering up the mural with paint the way TRUE Skool did it is actually inviting to taggers, too, Blando said. Painting over the wall, she said, identifies it as a place that has attracted graffiti before and may not be monitored for tagging."

Link here to read about the FAILURE OF FREE WALLS. More info on the failure of municipally sponsored graffiti exhibits can be found here.

Numerous allegations against other True Skool employees have been reported that are so outrageous that we will only report on them after full corroboration.  More later ...