Radtke still getting press

Second time in as many weeks the "Gray Ghost" has been in the news.  The PR tour started at about the time Mitch Landrieu announced his "security plan" would include money for graffiti removal.  This is probably not a coincidence.

Well that's quite good timing

Among the estimated $3.8 million worth of annual expenses supporting Mitch Landrieu's recently announced "security plan" is an unspecified amount for the following.

Action 5: Increased Graffiti Removal

Increase the amount of resources towards graffiti removal to include 4 persons for 8 hours a week to remove graffiti on all public signage,utility boxes and litter cans.

So there is "graffiti removal" money up for grabs.  Guess who suddenly pops back up in the news. 

Sometimes it's as easy as walking up to the base of an overpass. Other times, it might require a cherry picker to reach higher points. But no matter what it takes, Operation Clean Sweep is working to rid the Big Easy of graffiti.

“We've taken out graffiti over the last 15 years; saved the Police Department over 9,000 phone calls by creating the graffiti hotline and taking out over 25,000 graffiti tags,” said Fred Radtke, founder and president of Operation Clean Sweep.

Radtke said he started this nonprofit after seeing a void in the city.

To be clear, Radtke isn't "in the news" in the sense that a new thing happened that involves him necessitating a report being filed. WDSU just interviewed him because... well it isn't clear.  He probably doesn't mind the attention, though. Especially when the city might throw some money at him.

Radtke to the rescue?

Pat wonders where our anti-eyesore superhero vigilantes are when we need them.

Radtke Rehab

Can we please stop validating the guy's existence? Couldn't they have hired anybody else to fix this?

Missing the best one

David Winkler-Schmit has an amusing story in this week's Gambit where he talks to a handful of bloggers who each offer their best criticisms of graffiti bully Fred Radtke. I've always said that the problem isn't so much Radtke's unstable and obsessive personality as much as it is that he continues to be empowered by the city to piss all over everything. But since we know the city empowers all sorts of ridiculous bullshit we are hardly surprised at this any more.

I still wish David had contacted Dangerblond for this story since I still think she... um... paints the best picture of Radtke.

Radtke’s vendetta against Dingler, whose removable art works are not the same thing as graffiti and are infinitely preferable to Radtke’s obnoxious slashes of grey paint, shows you what this guy is really doing. He is making his own marks all over town. If he was really motivated by a desire to clean up ugly and offensive defacements off people’s property, he would use different paint colors to more closely match the colors of the buildings he is “fixing.” But no, he doesn’t want to do it in your color, he wants it in his color. He wants everyone to know that Radtke was here. This guy is basically an aggressive dog, sniffing out the places where other dogs have peed, and peeing on top of their pee. That will show them!

Um...

I hate to say it but I seriously doubt that Fred Radtke is doing this. We know he's got boundary issues with regard to whose property (if anyone's) he has some sort of prerogative to make his mark on. But if he's ceased to even try making his distinction between "art" and "graffiti" I would be very surprised. I think this is either a "copycat" or more likely someone trying to make Radtke look bad (as if he needs any help).

Heh

Come and get it, Fred.

BREAKING NEWS

Fred Radtke is still an asshole

We now return you to your regularly scheduled internets

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.

Quote of the Day

Dangerblond on Fred Radtke (A.K.A. "The Gray Ghost")

If he was really motivated by a desire to clean up ugly and offensive defacements off people’s property, he would use different paint colors to more closely match the colors of the buildings he is “fixing.” But no, he doesn’t want to do it in your color, he wants it in his color. He wants everyone to know that Radtke was here. This guy is basically an aggressive dog, sniffing out the places where other dogs have peed, and peeing on top of their pee. That will show them!

Yup