Fred Radtke

Batshit crazy (link via Haney)

The key question for me, whenever the Radtke problem comes up, is to what degree does the city actually sanction this apparent daily sniffing of enthusiasm for gray paint? The signals are always mixed as they are here:

Business owners along Magazine Street have long complained that Radtke, who is not a city employee, has painted on their buildings without their permission. But when told of their concerns, Narcisse said in January that the NOPD has no intention of charging Radtke with defacing of public or private property and praised his efforts in reducing crime and improving the city’s quality of life.

“What he’s doing is work that the city would be doing itself provided we had the resources and manpower,” Narcisse said at the time. “ He’s not doing anything that we aren’t asking him to do. ”

But City Councilwoman at-large Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson said the city has never authorized Operation Clean Sweep.

“We want graffiti removed but we want it authorized and controlled as to when, where and how he can do it,” Clarkson said. “I know the city would never give (Radtke) authorization to do any of what he is doing, including going on someone’s private property. And he certainly doesn’t have the right to be abusive to anybody, not in this city.”

Again, which is it? Knowing how most things work in this town, the sad answer is it's probably both. As long as some one with some semblance of an official voice appears to endorse Radtke's vandalism, and as long as their is no decisive move to stop it, you're going to read this story over and over.