Graffiti we’re going to miss, more cokehead politicians, doomed vagina stadiums, and your weekly Rob Ford report. It’s time to check in once again to see What’s Ruining Our Cities.
The absence of graffiti is ruining Long Island City
RIP 5Pointz, the tagged-up abandoned building in New York’s Long Island City neighborhood that’s become a de facto museum of graffiti. The building is being demolished, but, instead of making the artists watch their work slowly be destroyed over the next few months, the owners decided to whitewash the tags. It was “like a band-aid,” they said, just “rip it right off.” Two new condo towers are planned for the site and a series of blank walls will be offered to local artists to help keep the spirit of 5Pointz alive. But many of the artists said they won’t be coming back. [NPR]
Another cocaine-buying politician is ruining Southwest Florida
Taking a cue from the famous Crack Smoking Mayor of Toronto, a Florida congressman and Tea Party favorite named Trey Radel has been sentenced to one year’s worth of probation after attempting to buy cocaine from an undercover cop in D.C. To make things worse, the former local TV reporter overpaid for it: “Outside the restaurant, Radel, for reasons the documents do not explain, paid $10 more than the asking price and took the drugs. As federal agents approached, Radel dropped the cocaine in the street.” [Tampa Bay Times]
Vagina stadiums are ruining Qatar
Everyone thinks a proposed World Cup stadium looks like female genitalia—and that’s a problem for Qatar. Our juvenile snickering will likely prevent this version of al-Wakrah Stadium from being built in the conservative country, The Guardian’s Holly Baxter suggests. “I do think that the publicity the stadium has now had will probably prevent it being built, which is a tragedy for all of us with female genitalia who were so looking forward to seeing our vulvas reproduced on the Qatari skyline.” Since it may not come to fruition, you might as well read up on a brief history of buildings that look like vaginas. [Atlantic Wire, Gizmodo]
Finally, the city-ruiner that keeps on ruining: Your moment of Rob Ford.
A whitewashed 5 Pointz by Animal New York
