Graffiti Problem in Hawaii

            There is a common controversy of Hawaii being the perfect paradise, but is it really how it seems. Over the years there were many cases of graffiti. This is a loss for both the taggers, and the government because it cost money to paint over, too. There really is no point in trying to stop them. Out of Hawaii’s imperfections, graffiti is an issue that make the islands no the “perfect place” everyone thinks it is.

           

            Graffiti is very unappealing to everyone, especially the tourists that come to Hawaii. According to The Honolulu Star Advertiser, “Spray-painted scrawl is ever present on walls, utility boxes, signs, etc.” When tourists come to Hawaii, they expect to see the beautiful beaches, and nice towns, not graffiti on buildings. It also looks very rundown, which makes them realize that we are just like them. Graffiti is a persistent problem to government and private property owners. These property owners are the ones that pay for the damage. If the building belongs to a business, then it could lower the amount of consumers due to the visual garbage. For all the hard work they have to put in to get rid of the graffiti, they could lose money, and people lose their job. This visual garbage in very unpleasant to the eye, and can repel people.

            These people that vandalize are reckless and love to graffiti. In the star advertiser, it says that the police arrests taggers, but are still encouraged. This is what they do, and this is their hobby. They aren’t going to stop because they just love to graffiti. This is the way they express themselves through art. Plus, they probably enjoy how angry the police get. Star advertiser quotes, “Several groups are fighting paint with paint.” Not only does this affect the groups, but it also affects our environment. The groups don’t realize that if they paint over it, then the taggers are going to paint over that, too. Then more paint fumes will be in the air, constantly hurting our environment.  These taggers are enjoying the anger that groups have because they paint on their property five hours after they just painted over it. They don’t care about what people think, they are just doing their thing.

            Through all these graffiti problems, the government and police must be enraged by this madness. There were 1111 graffiti cases and 227 arrests in 2005. This doesn’t make Hawaii look like a better place. If mainlanders knew this, then they wouldn’t want to tour here, which could drop our economy. The tourists are the ones that we get money from, and we need Hawaii to look clean. Little kids think that graffiti is cool because it’s very colorful, but if they are influenced to vandalize, then there will be more problems. It costs $5211 for replacing signs on the H-1 freeway. There should be a special place where taggers could put their art so that it doesn’t affect any other people. Otherwise, they would just keep spray-painting on the signs, and causing more trouble. The angered government should do something about this.

            Graffiti is unappealing to the eye, cost lost of money, and taggers just won’t quit. Tourists should rethink their idea of Hawaii being the perfect paradise. It’s not just beautiful beaches, but nasty graffiti. The government should do something and stop this madness. As for the tourists, they shouldn’t move here either, due to the fact that Hawaii isn’t so perfect. And if they move here, it would cause even more trouble.