SALINAS, Calif. - When you hear the word graffiti, what do you think of? You often don't think of it as a good thing for the community. But one local group does and wants to make it legal.
George Caruthers said graffiti artists get a bad rap and not all graffiti is bad.
"I think people can see graffiti and it can inspire a lot of other people to want to do art and want to express themselves and be creative," says Caruthers
So, the 19-year-old started up 831 Art Walls, an advocacy group that's pushing to find public art spaces, where anyone can paint legally and as much as they want to. He thinks this idea will bring the community together and help erase the graffiti problem.
"It would help stop some of the people that are just writing to express themselves, some of the people who do murals in abandoned buildings and under bridges," says Caruthers.
The goal for this project is to turn old abandoned buildings along the central coast, including those on the former Fort Ord property in Seaside into works of art.
James Sang owns a business in Old Town Salinas. Graffiti artists have hit his restaurant several times. He doesn't think the idea will stop the graffiti problem.
"People who want to do the graffiti are not into showing their art work, they might be part of a gang," says Sang.
Caruthers doesn't think so. He's written to all the council members on the Central Coast, hoping to get their support.
"People just write it off as these are a bunch of kids, that are just trying to write on walls and destroy our business and make the city look bad, when really it's a lot of different artists."
Submitted by Azenith Smith, Central Coast News
