Rocket Talk: When's the TTC Going to Roll Out More Fare Collection Methods?
Newsstand: November 9, 2009
Zack Taylor in Disney Mama Drama
Santa's Weston Workshop
The Daily Photoist: November 9, 2009
Torontoist spotted this bit of loveliness in St. George Station on Monday. Unlike most fugly marker graffiti, this is an elegant and playful addition to the station’s signage. It looks like the floral flourish on a crown, or possibly a fleur-de-lis.
What compelled someone to draw this on the station wall? Is it a political statement, or is it simply meant to elicit a smile? Whatever the intention may have been, this piece of graffiti has a certain charm. It takes us back to the age old practice of drawing moustaches, specs, and facial tattoos on pictures in magazines and high school yearbooks.
Enjoy while you can—it's on the westbound platform at St. George Station—because this decorative graffiti won't be up for very long.
Photo by Kevin McBride.
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Poor St. David
Enjoy it? Pffft.
All it elicits in me is: gee, another asshole tagger. No more, no less.
It's a pot leaf, the station colours are green... duh.
Shame on Torontoist for promoting graffiti. This is not art, it's defacement by scum criminals. I wish personal pain on any tagger who does similar to any public or private edifice in the city.
The TTC subway is an embarrassment compared to many other systems in terms of fare cost, technology, length, hours, station design, etc. but at least it is one of the cleanest. If Toronto loses that battle (as was lost long ago in New York and elsewhere), what is there left to be proud of?
I like it.
I'm not trying to promote graffiti, nor am I saying that this is art. I hate tagging, I think it's ugly and pointless. Given a choice, I would prefer to see this over someone's scrawled signature on a wall. Tagging gives graffiti a bad name. Walk down graffiti alley and and tell me that there isn't beauty in those murals.
Okay, I'll say that it's art.
If y'all want something to fulminate over, head to illegalsigns.ca. At least this fleur-de-lis isn't enriching a crooked operator while the city sits by and pretends incompetence.
Let's not split hairs. Describing this as a "bit of lovlieness" is promoting graffiti, tagging, vandalism and any other term for illegal defacement that is listed in the dictionary.
There was beauty in these "murals" as well (http://www.at149st.com/images/lee4.jpg) but that doesn't mean they should ever be allowed to happen again. It is wrong to put the artistic appreciation of a few over the rights of the many for clean, safe, and inexpensive public transit.
I have no problem with graffiti in an authorized setting or in an art gallery where its artistic qualities can be appreciated without negative repercussions, but please do not encourage Toronto's civic decline by praising public vandalism.
I like it and I applaud Torontoist for posting it.
And the TTC is hardly clean; dust and grime coat everything, half the stations have visible signs of water damage from leaking, and to top it all off the lighting is some putrid off-white shade that makes everything look dingy.
The name St. George comes from a French merchant who was one of the earlier residents of Toronto and built the first brick building on what is now St. George Street. The fleur-de-lis as a tribute to him? Possibly?
What is it about graffiti––all graffiti, big or small, tagging or culture jams or murals, art or not––that freaks some people out so much? I mean, isn't that little flourish on the O, legal or not, at least a tiny bit "lovely"?
I am 100% in favour of defacing illegal signs like any of the ones documented on illegalsigns.ca.
Just get the locations of those signs into the hands of the asshole taggers and let 'em go nuts.
It's quite cute, but the fact remains it was not something approved by the property's owner. I can't see how the fact the TTC is in a decrepit state means we can do whatever we like to it. It's a matter of respecting a owner's right to be left alone. I support other local "graffiti" art efforts, say, like Newmindspace's Valetine project of painting hearts of sidewalks, but at least they make conscious efforts to ensure that the art is completely temporary.
Allowing yourself to approve of some graffiti and not others just because it appeals to your personal sensibilities or because it was well-meant is just too messy. I understand the sentiment, but it doesn't make good public policy.
#4, have you taken public transit in other major cities, lately? While in London last year, the much-lauded Underground was in disrepair - constant service disruptions, long waits with unbearably large crowds, confusing signage littering the sprawling system, and cramped and unventillated subway cars. Absolutely awful. A local resident stated that they're notorious for shutting down the system "everytime a lightbulb goes off."
Don't even get me started about Paris, or Boston (one of the wealthiest cities in the States.)
The TTC is still in need of a serious funding boost, but it's still a hell of a lot better than other systems, in terms of safety, comfort, cleanliness, ease of use, and reliability. (Yes, seriously.) Most people need to get out of the city to realize this. I certainly did, after spending nearly two months of travelling outside of Canada.
ElleDriver - I have not lived in Toronto for eight years, though I still visit often. I live in New York now and have also lived in London. I'm well aware of the state of other transit systems and was careful in my choice of words. I specifically mentioned "fare cost, technology, length, hours, station design" as points where the TTC is weakest. You are correct that cleanliness is not the only TTC strength and the other categories you describe are important as well. But that doesn't mean that we should not be vigilant to protect all of them, including cleanliness.
By the way, many of the formerly decrepit American transit systems are making an impressive comeback. You should take another look. Boston's new fare collection system is exactly what Toronto needs, they are speeding up their streetcars (Green Line) and their BRT system (Silver Line) is as good as Viva. Some of the older subway stations there have been very nicely renovated as well. In my opinion, most people need to get out of Toronto to realize what the TTC is missing as the systems it used to lead catch up, and in some cases, surpass it. I've taken trains and buses to the airport in many ciites recently, none as miserably as in Toronto.
yesterday morning, the doors that i was exiting from were right in front of it, my day was brightened up when i saw it. i left the station smiling, something that i almost never do. a delicate bit of art on private property is something i have absolutely no problem with. and before someone jumps on me , let me pre-empt one potential retort by saying that there's a difference in doing this to someone's home and doing this to the ttc. there is quite clearly a difference in the private-ness of the two, if you will. so no calls of "how would you feel if someone did that to YOUR private property?!?" imagine if the entire subway system had beautiful things scattered throughout it. how much nicer would be our long commute, how much less soul-crushing would be our early mornings? tagging is stupid, but this isn't tagging, unless it is some weird i'm-like-prince-in-that-i-go-by-a-symbol-and-not-a-name kind of tagging. it's just a tiny floral addition. would you rather see this, or those monstrous mountain dew ads that have carpet-bombed st. george station recently, or even worse, the monstrous and disgusting sephora ads that have carpet-bombed bay station recently?
I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone in my appreciation of this graffiti. Sometimes it's the little things, you know?
"i have no problem with graffiti in an authorized setting or in an art gallery where its artistic qualities can be appreciated without negative repercussions"
am i the only one who finds this funny? once you remove graffiti art from the environment that it's a part of it loses much of its meaning and affecting power. and an essential part of that environment includes the knowledge of its illegality and about forcing itself into spaces that art is normally denied, that is, private property. good graffiti is about making our terrible urban environment beautiful, bringing beauty back to the street-level where we can all appreciate it and be enhanced by it, especially when we are engaged in activities that are so often the complete opposite of beautiful (e.g. going to work on the subway, walking through row after row of ugly highrises, watching local businesses knocked down to insert yet another batch of condos). graffiti is decidedly not about being shoved into a sterile, white-walled gallery. to do so would be to do violence to it.