My Little "311 Art Shows"

Photos By John Hoff

I've fallen into a kind of routine with the 311 system...

I walk around with my camera and--as blog readers can see--I take a lot of pictures. I'm hardly ever without my camera, except by mistake. So, obviously, I have my camera with me when I encounter graffiti.

Most of the graffiti I see is NOT in North Minneapolis. We have a lot of different issues in North Minneapolis, but graffiti doesn't even make the top ten. In fact, it seems like most graffiti is not done by real gangsters but little "wannabe gangsters."

So I take pictures of the graffiti, almost casually and without thinking about it, taking mental note of the locations. At some point, when I'm sitting down with my computer doing WHATEVER, I just start firing off emails to the 311 system, attaching the images.

(Yeah, naturally I have 311 in my "address book." The email address, in case anybody wants it RIGHT NOW, is minneapolis311@ci.minneapolis.mn.us)

I don't know these business addresses by heart, so I look locations up before writing emails. In the photos above, top to bottom, the Triple Rock Social Club on the West Bank, a dumpster behind the Loring Pasta Bar, and 806 Washington Ave. SE. These are some email 311 reports I made yesterday. I hope the 311 workers enjoy my photos. I try to make the photos both informative (for documentary purposes) as well as expressive, like a little art show contained within an email attachment.

I sometimes think it would be really fun if there were incentives to call 311. For example, you could get an online "game piece," then play some kind of Monopoly Game for fabulous prizes. Each piece would represent a business or private property where a graffiti call was made. Right now, I'd be in control of a serious portion of the West Bank and Dinkytown. On the basis of calling in unsecured doors, I'd own a serious chunk of North Minneapolis. Who would pay for the incentives? A partnership between government and private business.

Yeah, incentives would be nice...but the real reward happens when you contact 311, and then the graffiti MAGICALLY DISAPPEARS. And you rejoice in a feeling of good citizenship.

And then graffiti comes back. But that's OK...you just call or email again. And again. It's like mowing the lawn. You don't get angry because the grass grows back.

You just sigh...and mow it again.

People might say, "How is there TIME to do this?" Well, in my observation, almost everybody has a serious chunk of time dedicated to messing around online. It's really just a matter of making that time productive.