Today's Crap

I took a quick trip up river today to do about an hour of trash pickup.  Starting under the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, there was the usual litter plus these four cans of Endust.  I see someone was enjoying a little "dusting".  I don't know much about that habit but the evidence was there in the dirt under the bridge.

Also under the Hennepin bridge, the graffiti that arrived early October has been painted over already.  I see "That Guy" was out and about. The bridge maintenance crew was on top of that really fast.  Good job.

Just a bit upstream and on to the river viewing area and steps.  I am here a lot!! So many booze bottles. It is a favorite place for all kinds of stuff, good and bad.  It's time to get park and rec over here to do some graffiti abatement work.  There seems to be an increase of graffiti here with nothing done about it.  Some of this has been here for more than a year and some is more recent.

 If you are going to do do graffiti, it is probably best to not sign your name Azarea.

"That Guy", possibly the most prolific graffiti artist working in the cities marked up the steps a couple of weeks ago.  That white stuff seems like it is some kind of gunky caulk.  After a good rain, it can be chipped off with a pocket knife.  I wonder how long it will take for the residue to fade.

This graffiti has been here for as long as I have lived in downtown.

Last thing of the day was to bring up two air mattresses and and a down comforter out of the woods nearby.  Never leave your address on the box that it came in.  I left it all by the road.  As I was walking home I saw some park and rec guys driving that way so hopefully they picked it up.

That Guy

 I've walked from downtown Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota about 4 times in the last couple of weeks.  There are two pedestrian bridges that go across the river.

The view is great looking up or down the river.  Students were going back to school and the campus was busy.  I grabbed a couple of freebies that folks were handing out; popsicles, chicken on a toothpick, and cheap sunglasses.  If I could have stayed longer I could have gone to a free Korean barbecue but that might be pushing it since I'm not a student.

I couldn't help but notice the graffiti on the East Bank along a wall that faces the river.  That's new.  It's "That Guy" leaving his mark for the beginning of the school year.  I believe the folks that work over at the city graffiti control call you "The Face".  I wonder if they have a file full of your artistry. I started to think of just how often I see graffiti from you and how many photos I have taken.  We visit the same spots.
 

You've left your mark under all the bridges that I have visited; the Ford Bridge, the Lake St. Bridge and countless others.   Sometimes the proportion of the the face changes.  I know you are also into making stickers and I saw one of your stickers by the entrance to the Bassett Creek conduit.  The truth is, I like stickers.  I need to go back and clean up the trash that was left there.  Was that you?  I picked up a notebook discarded in the bushes along the river walk downtown.  Hup, that was your doodle book.

Sometimes "That Guy" just pops up unexpectedly. 

Mostly "That Guy" keeps to places that are hidden but once in awhile he gets bold and it pops up in a neighborhood.  Maybe this one has been painted over already.  The neighbors around the park probably complained to the city.

I see you visited the homeless camp that we cleaned up last April.  Interestingly enough, the homeless man that helped us clean up this spot along the river was furious that you had left this mark on the concrete wall back there.  I have mixed feelings about this stuff.  There is personal preference for graffiti and what is art.  Once you put it out there everyone is free to be a critic, even the homeless guy at the camp.