Mr. Civic Graffiti Guy

Meet Mr. Civic Graffiti Guy in person. He's the fellow who wields that cool, long gizmo loaded with multiple cans of spray paint to inform one and all as to the location of assorted underground utilities and services (water, electricity, gas, sewer, cable, etc.)

I espied him the other day out the kitchen window as he left his mark up and down the street. Wonder what horrors of civic improvement drivers can expect as a result in the next couple of months! Below is a closer view of his white and green messages.

More examples of very recent writings. There are two basic differences between civic graffiti and the other kind: 1) the other kind is likely to be a lot more varied as well as artistic and 2) there is no program to wipe out dated civic graffiti (unlike the other kind). These text message-style scribblings remain on the streets, sidewalks and other surfaces until they either wear out or flake away.

Wouldn't it be grand to have a graffiti gizmo like the one this guy gets to use?

Continuing my Friday walk...

...and a new collection of small things seen. Let's begin with this truly weird Californian who appears to be part of the West Virginia Mountaineers. Huh? He got something against the Sierras? Makes me think of someone from Florida really getting into exploration of Indiana swamps.(Forgive my bad schmeer of the license plate number -- policy here is that actual numbers are private and out of bounds unless it's a vanity plate, in which case the rules change.)

In any event ... the guy with the multi-color spray cans has been out again doing his civic graffiti thing. My favorite marking this time round is the white (below) which carefully points out the very evident location of sign posts. Again, huh?

I'm always surprised when, suddenly I discover a notable item that's obviously been around for a long time. Here it is a plaque that marks the founding of the first Protestant church in Arizona; the church in question is the United Methodist on Summit and Gurley. The not so memorable coffee tin is one of several butt cans for the homeless and down-on-their-luck folk served by the church's Open Door mission.

One more door at the church.

Down the hill at the Sharlot Hall Museum grounds, something major is happening at the southwest corner, where the former blacksmith's shop (above) appears to have been gutted -- and the building that once defined the corner (below) has been replaced with a concrete pad. Again, my plaintive question: anybody know what's in store?

Across the street from the museum grounds is the backside of the Goodwin Street Plaza. Look carefully. Note those fine fat logs? Suitable for a fireplace or for a chain saw artist, aren't they. Wonder which it is? And there's another puzzle for the really sharp eye: do you see Mr. Graffiti outlined in blue (below)? I became aware of him only after I had opened the image in PhotoShop, by which time it was too late to get a really good view

Being a nosey sort, I couldn't resist a peek into the backroom of the Builders Wholesale store; they do fireplaces and such.

Finally, an update on the McCormick Place building -- it looks like one of those three million- dollar condos has been sold, leaving just two to go. I must say, speaking as a former smoker, that the sign below is a bit imperious. If I'm not mistaken, there's a law about when and where smoking can take place in front of a building -- it has to do with distance from the doors. These folk need to cool it and borrow a couple of those butt cans from the Open Door people. But that's too sour a note for leave-taking.

Instead, I'll close with this wonderful collection of sycamore seed balls against a bright blue, sunny Arizona sky.

In the shadow of the city sign man

I thought that I had said all there was to say about civic graffiti. Today while out walking I discovered that I was wrong. Look at that collection of colored news fragments above -- not only is every utility is represented but they all appear to be negative.

That, of course, is the shadow of a sign across the graffiti.

Both these signs were circled in white, with all the requisite color coded messages down on the pavement.

I finally caught up with the city's man, erecting a bump sign. He patiently explained to me that when he ventures forth to repair, replant, or erect a sign, it's necessary to know that he won't hit any utility mains in the process. Hence the colorful hodgepodge; wonder how long it will last.

Civic graffiti popping up all over!

Wow! Tombo has unearthed (almost literally) two sites of fabulous graffiti in our fair city. What I've seen around town is pretty pallid and wimpish compared to the brilliant street art he discovered on the downside of Watson Lake dam and in a big diversion sewer near the Gurley Street Compass bank.

Nothing of that sort in my neighborhood. However, now that it's spring, the utility chaps in chino with their spray cans have been out marking their turf. I think I have the code down pat at this point, thanks to the gas guys who put their colors on this alley the other day.

That yellow just has to define the gas lines, seeing as how it leads right up to a meter.

The COP (City of Prescott) uses three colors. Since the blue (below) is the obvious choice for water mains, the green (above) must be the sewers. As for the white? It usually seems to appear where Something is about to happen to the surface.

Further up this street is a positive rainbow of what I have dubbed civic graffiti.

Here are the older signs from the scene above. Red for electricity, fading orange for ??? Possibly telephone lines or cable; it's definitely a hot color and it appears to say "no TV". The chief differences between sanctioned graffiti and guerrilla street art: 1) spray cans in the hands of utility employees are legit; 2) civic graffiti is worse than pedestrian -- it's dull, dull, dull whereas occasionally talent or at least imagination will shine through in works by the outlaws, and 3) there's a team of volunteers standing by to quickly paint over street art, but apparently there is no concern at all about those red, yellow, blue and green markings, which linger on our streets and sidewalks until they are worn out by traffic or washed away by rain. (Or mowed, when the paint lands on the grass. I've even seen it on cactus.) That's a double standard, in my books.

Oh! Serendipitous Day!

Most civic graffiti is pretty dull stuff, dealing as it does with locations of pipe, conduit, lines and such. Imagine my surprise when I came across...

...this smiley done by the yellow-coded utility guy! Over on Beach Street, near the church. It was a sign that today was going to be a good day.

Oh yes, it was. I was about to peer over the railing on Gurley Street to photograph all those leaves in the creek when two guys (one in restaurant-looking garb) ran up & restaurant-guy put this past-its-prime pumpkin up on the post. "Huh?" I ask? "I found him. I'm going to kick him down into the creek for the javelinas." Kick he did. My slow camera shutter didn't get the action. Natch.

It got this sad cracked pumpkin shell, lying on the streamside path waiting for the javelinas to mosey along. Tonight, maybe. Maybe not.

Civic Graffiti

Give a talented kid a can or two of spray paint and the resulting graffiti may be nice eye candy even if it's not high art. Like the one-time materials hopper over where Sheldon curves down into McCormick.


Give the street-corner scuzzball a can or two of spray paint and the results are bound to be gross. Obscene language...turf marks...scribbles and scrawls. This type of graffiti offends the eyes and sensibilities, but not much else.

Give a few cans of spray paint to a clean-cut guy in chinos and a white shirt with a metal detector and watch out! The graffiti he creates is tame stuff -- lines, arrows and occasionally words, all cluttering the public ways.


But this graffiti has very real and serious consequences. Pavement torn up. Deep holes in the ground. Traffic delays.


My name for this rainbow of spray-painted streets, alleys and sometimes trees (or even prickly pears) is Civic Graffiti. It is Authorized graffiti. Ok'd by engineers, Planning & Zoning and officialdom in general.

Have you seen enough Civic Graffiti over the years to have figured out the color codes? Thus far, I've got blue for water (obvious metaphor). Green for sewers. White for Fix-This-Damned-Sidewalk-or- Pavement-Before-the-Lawyers-Serve-Papers.


Pink appears to spell doom -- or heavy butchery -- for any vegetation that stands in the way of progress. Then there are the hot colors: yellow, red and orange. These obviously stand for gas, electricity and phone/cable lines, but I'm never sure which is which.



The other day over on Congress Street, even the dried grass got a dose of spray paint. And it would be there forever if it didn't weather away. The powers that be are quick to see that graffiti-defaced buildings or billboards are cleaned up. But nobody seems to be in charge of cleaning up Civic Graffiti once the pipes or lines are fixed, the holes filled and the street repaved. It just gradually fades away.