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Prolific Tagger Fined Over $200K By City

Jack Morse — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:25:52 GMT

A tagger taken to civil court this past summer by the city of San Francisco learned her fate last week, and it is an expensive one. The City Attorney's office announced that it had won a $217,831.64 judgement against the woman, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera expects her to pay up.

Terry Cozy, the person accused of spray painting a variation of "COZE" or "COZE1" around the city, has until February 15 to pay the amount due, reports the Chronicle.

Cozy would allegedly post photos of her tags to Instagram, Tumblr, and Flickr, but those pages were taken down when she was sued last summer. Officials decided to sue Cozy, instead of pursuing criminal charges, as the standard of proof is lower in a civil case. Also, they had apparently attempted criminal charges before.

"I would just say so far she has not been deterred by criminal prosecution," said Deputy City Attorney Victoria Weatherford last summer when the suit was announced.

“I don’t think it will stop graffiti in San Francisco, but I hope it makes people think twice,” Deputy City Attorney Jill Cannon told the paper. “We want people to know that when you damage property, there are consequences — maybe beyond what they anticipated.”

The total financial judgment is the result of an estimated $50,000 in damages, plus attorney's fees and various penalties. The City Attorney's office, notes the Chron, can seize Cozy's property or garnish her wages should she fail to pay the fine on time.

"The city spends upwards of $20 million a year on graffiti cleanup," says Herrera. "That’s unconscionable. Let the taggers foot the bill for their mischief.”

Previously: San Francisco Sues Prolific Graffiti Artist For $88,000 In Damage To Public Property

Cautionary Graffiti Spray-Painted Onto Jaw-Droppingly Expensive Duboce Park Apartment Building

Eve Batey — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 12:15:00 GMT

The Lower Haight building with the $6,500 1-bedroom already got tagged. 🚫💲 “Don’t Waste Your $”

A photo posted by Andrew Dalton (@dolfapedia) on Aug 13, 2015 at 11:04pm PDT

On Wednesday, Hoodline founder Andrew Dudley wrote an article about a $6500/month one-bedroom apartment in Duboce Park — the most popular piece he's ever written, he says. And by Thursday, the building that contains that apartment was tagged, by a spray-paint wielding person saying the same thing many of us thought as we read Dudley's piece.

As Hoodline reports from 435 Duboce:

Yes, after more than four years of construction, the building at Duboce and Fillmore is finally ready for tenants, and its premium unit is apparently making up for lost time, rent-wise. Granted, it's a "penthouse" (the building is only three stories high, for what it's worth), offering a "panorama city view" and "private interior-facing decks." It also sports finishes like a Viking range and Carrara marble countertops, housecleaning services included, and "quality sound insulation," which should help protect you from the frequent rumbling of the N-Judah and the colorful street life outside your front door.
The entire unit is just 981 square feet, which translates to almost $7 per square foot, and the deposit is listed at $13,000. There are no photos available.

As a thing, I prefer “Don’t Waste Your $” over “Die Yuppie Scum” or whatever. No threats of violence. Just some good, practical advice.
— Andrew Dalton (@dolftown) August 14, 2015

Courtroom Saga For Admitted Tagger 'Cryst' Continues, Statement To KTVU Held Against Him

Eve Batey — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:30:00 GMT

When Andrew "Cryst" Yarbrough explained to KTVU that the "Cryst" and "Sheep" tags he'd admittedly left all over San Francisco meant "crystal meth" and "conformist gentrification and all that other shit," he was likely trying to explain his motivation for causing a reported $50,000 in damage to private and city property. What he probably didn't expect was for that statement to media to be played back by prosecutors, as it was in a court hearing Thursday.

If you don't know the Cryst's story now, here's a refresher: He got nabbed by the cops while photographing one of his pieces of graffiti in Dolores Park, made multiple comments on SFist explaining himself and his work, and allegedly returned to his tagging ways after being released on his own recognizance.

But at some point, the sheep — if you will — must come home to do whatever sheep do. It seems possible that that time is coming for Cryst, who was in a daylong preliminary hearing yesterday, and is expected to be in another one today. Two full days of sitting still? His spray-paint finger must be itching to depress a nozzle!

According to KTVU, on Thursday prosecutor Kathleen McBride presented evidence of the the self-described "political tagger"'s guilt, including that March 12 KTVU report where Cryst explains what his tags mean to the camera.

"A series of police officers and investigators...showed evidence taken from Yarbrough's home, including nine cans of spray paint, markers, and a computer containing photos of his alleged vandalism," KTVU reports. (To be fair, my home contains all those things as well!)

Department of Public Works staffer and organizer of their Grafitti Advisory Board Jimmer Cassiol told KTVU that officials believe Cryst was engaged in an cat-and-mouse game with DPW cleaning crews, as "It seemed like whoever this ‘Cryst’ was, was basically following our crews. As they were cleaning up the walls of graffiti, another tag would go up."

After today's hearing, we should have a better idea on if Cryst will end up facing the 35 counts of vandalism, including 11 felonies, that the District Attorney's office has filed against him. But as far as the DPW is concerned, they want to see Cryst go down.

"We want to make sure a message is sent out," Cassiol says.

"if you're going to come to San Francisco and you're going to vandalize San Francisco with graffiti, that's not the place you're going to want to do it because you're going to pay for doing it."

Previously: Prolific Tagger Caught Photographing His Work In Dolores Park
Alleged 'Cryst' Tagger Faces 29 Counts Of Vandalism, Might Be Defending His Tags In SFist Comments
'Cryst' Might Be Back To His Prolific Tagging, Is Due In Court Today

KTVU -

Updated: More Banksy

Leanne Maxwell — Sun, 09 May 2010 19:00:50 GMT

Are we bored with Banksy yet? You tell us.

Last week, the Chinatown building owners were documented tending to Banksy's doctor.
Earlier this week, ~~Blek le~~ Banksy's rat showed up on an historic wall in Alactraz, which was promptly removed by the National Park Service.
The following day, Banksy's Native American in the Mission was transformed into Frank Chu.
On Thursday, North Beach was hit with a fresh stencil (pictured above).
UPDATE: And it looks like we missed Einstein in Upper Haight, which appears to have been added yesterday. (You're moving to fast for us, Banksy (or whoever you are)! Or it wasn't a Banksy? So confused

We're certainly looking forward to the movie, which is currently playing at Embarcadero. Anyone seen it yet?

Vandals Attack UC/Santa Cruz Campus

Brock Keeling — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:20:06 GMT

While the banana slugs are on break for the holidays, hooligans went on a vandalism spree on Wednesday night at the UCSC campus. According to reports, the unidentified misfits damaged "up to 20 university cars, breaking windows of buildings and vehicles, spraying graffiti in residence halls, and laying down road spike strips." While officials have no suspects, we can only assume it was the work of Stevenson students. Oh wait, police said the trustifarianesque graffiti scrawled on dormitory walls, sigh, "expressed opposition to the prison system, law enforcement, and campus growth." So scratch that, this was clearly the work of Porter students.

SFist Photo: Tagging in Broad Daylight on Haight Street

Jim — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 08:37:41 GMT

Or perhaps he's a tagger refugee from the "bourgeois battle" at Warm Water Cove (), that "glorious urban wasteland" where "pretty whitegirls" don't work on their tans? You make the call.

Amid concrete and clay/ And general decay/ Taggers must still find a way
So ignore all the codes of the day/ Let your juvenile impulses sway!

Ensenada de Agua Caliente