Fr8fiend

>>thank god the Democrats have control finally, that was pretty scary there, now this mess of an administration is the next thing that's gotta go<< Word !

These were spotted just shy of new years eve in the northeast - - PROX, RUMOR- gmrc JALE, ICH '04 - hpjx RIO, NERO - gmrc TEACH - gmrc LYES, PHONE - hs NORMS, CHOMP - mec GASE - bm JOYN, CONT - aok GRIM, CHEM - ykr OZONE, STE, FOSHO - sou MECA - lvrc SICR, GYSER - mec HAM - crle INVEY - mec GABLE, AZTEK - crle ERO, APES - bnsf PERIN, CAMO, HOME - bnsf SKAPE - bnsf CROW, RIDL - mec JAPAN - rbox COSOE - rbox ZAE - rbox KOLUN - crle SIGH - nokl MAKO, CHOZE - rbox REUP - mec SPACE, DYER, XRAE - bnsf FEEZ, MASHIK - bnsf

Here's another infusion--- ANANO, CASTER - fbox DETRS, BORE, IREE - crle ETCH - bnsf PERS, CEMEK, RICH, NISK - fbox AVOL, ?, MUERTE - bnsf GSOUTH, ROKU - fbox EBIK, KLIF - mec KEPO, POLE - aok LEARN - gmrc LABOR, NERDS, GYSER - bnsf LEFTO - bnsf RIDL - gmrc SEIR, JOCE - ykr PESKY, AROE - bnsf EKWAL, ESTHER - slgg DUB - rbox FREAK - ykr

Finally had a pen, paper and a bit of extra time at the yards- - - MEEKA, WORM, ? - rbox ARSN, SPACE, NORMS - dwc ICHABOD - lisx JECK - lisx UTAH - gmrc LABS - hs CHEK, BFOR - unpx NESK - dwc KOLUN, NAPTO - crle BMU - rbox 125, HEX - fbox ARMS - csxt SLAME - slr AREK (top to bottom) - bms BRAZE - gmrc THUH - fbox ILL STYLE KINGS - cvc SIGH - lvrc ZATS - cn NX2 - cn DAZEM - cn SILK - cn ATAK, NECS, LIONS - cvc ONIK - unpx GIER, CROW - cna AMER, SEK, R2 - fbox NORMAL, BSTER - ykr SKEW, NEWA - csxt HERE - dwc HARSH - sp SYM - tr LYES, PHONE - hpjx QUE - ns BIGRIG - rbox CIZE - amgx GARP - gvsr SIGH - sou SI - gmrc SPEND, RIDL - fbox AREK, NISE, TRE, KETCH - fbox 27 - aok CENSE, SERCH - gmrc SUGA - csxt ISTO, MBER - bnsf GLUE, KUMA - kcs - - - all spotted in the naughty northeast, near New Hampshire.

Great article ! We always try to travel by amtrak when we have the time and can afford it, it's worth supporting. Not to mention all the freights to be seen along the way and the endless pieces under every bridge everywhere along every line. The current white house administration that we are suffering through is completely auto/highway centered, ruled by the oil corporations. They are unsustainable. With gas hovering between 2.50 and 3 dollars a gallon and air pollution at ridiculous levels, we need a vastly expanded rail transportation network now more than ever. Hopefully, when this regime leaves office in a couple years, we will get a more realistic, open-minded administration that will put America back on the proper, truly sustainable track. Pun intended.

It's a real bummer that some heads are still just going right over the numbers. I wont even take a photo when I see that nowadays. Nice reefer spot you've got.

HEIST - csxt ONIK, HAUNT - aok ONO - csxt CREDET, SAG - csxt OIR - bm EMER - rbox TEMPER - csxt

I don't know much about Ecko's history, but from what I've seen the past couple years I think it's a step in the good direction. Many cities have made graff a felony, which is absolutely ridiculous. Having to do time in prison for writing ones name on something which will be buffed or painted out within minutes is just fanatical criminalization of a mostly harmless act. Putting property before people has been conditioned into the masses as an accepted norm now. During protests they refer to breaking a window as violence, it is not, it is vandalism. Violence is when another living being is harmed or made to suffer pain, which should definitely be punished appropriately. Not when an inanimate object is damaged. To promote this type of mental conditioning, our local and federal government provides millions of dollars to various agencies for support, enforcement and legal modifications. The only hope of we the people is for those individuals with a strong financial backing, such as Ecko, who may have some bit of sympathy or empathy with us and our cause, to put their money to work through legal challenges in order to begin breaking down this powerful governmental wall of oppression and unreasonably harsh punishment. If not, it will get to the point where one will be doing years in prison for catching a tag. Don't laugh, that's the direction in which all this is going. Do not think that the government doesn't realize that graffiti is the last true form of uncensored expression and free speech in this country that can absolutely be used to open and change minds. By launching two court challenges in the last two years against New York City, first for the right to hold a graff-oriented block party and now to oppose the criminalization of people under 21 years of age for carrying paint or markers, Ecko is bringing this highly unreasonably harsh criminalization of graff into the conciouness of all citizens and has begun the slow process of chiseling away at these unjust laws. Hopefully at some point in the future the penalties will return to the point at which they were 30 years ago when the sentence fit the crime. If one is caught writng then one does community service time buffing, with maybe a small fine. That is appropriate for this type of action. We need to see many more of Ecko's status, within the "hip hop" community and elsewhere, stepping up and putting their financial backing out there for use in sentencing reform and protecting the legal rights of the most vulnerable citizens, especially the young and the poor, those most unable to defend themselves from this oppressive legal system. I appreciate what Ecko has been doing in this regard.

Just found this on the NY Times website - - With $25 Million, M.T.A. Plans a New War on Subway Graffiti Published: May 23, 2006 Adopting a drastic measure that recalled battles against subway graffiti from the 1970's and 80's, transit officials yesterday said they planned to spend $25 million to replace the windows in about 5,000 cars that are vulnerable to being indelibly marred by graffiti vandals using knives or etching acid. A senior police official, appearing before the committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that oversees the subways, attributed the recent surge in graffiti to competing gangs seeking to deface or "tag" subway cars with their symbols. "This is an underworld, a segment of society that doesn't see this as a crime," said the official, Chief James P. Hall, the commander of the police transit bureau. Although most of the vandalism is being committed by New Yorkers, he said, it has taken on a global dimension with vandals from as far away as Europe having been caught putting their tags on subway car exteriors, and photographing their handiwork as a memento of their vacation. Transit officials described the planned investment in windows as a partial solution. The replacements would resemble windows already in use in the newest of the system's 6,200 subway cars, which are coated with Mylar, a resilient polyester that can be peeled off and replaced when damaged by graffiti, keeping the glass underneath clean. The protective coating is necessary because, unlike spray paint, scratches and acid-based graffiti are impossible to remove. "The battle is lost" once the windows are damaged, said Michael Lombardi, senior vice president for subways of New York City Transit, a division of the authority. Some transit officials said the plan did not go far enough, and urged the authority to consider more vigilant steps, like equipping trains with cameras to capture vandals in action. The chairman of the transit committee, Barry Feinstein, said the authority should hire security guards for each of its depots and storage yards to supplement the work of the police and to keep vandals out. "This becomes a contest" among vandals, he said. "We need to get our arms around this, and from what I am hearing, we are not." Mr. Lombardi said $25 million would be included in a proposed 2007 budget that the authority is to consider later this year. If approved, he said, $10 million will be spent to buy and install the new windows and $5 million will be used annually for three years to remove graffiti. Chief Hall's description of gangs trying to outdo one another in defacing subway cars was reminiscent of the 1970's and 80's, when the subways were coated in painted graffiti, offering a symbol of a city run amok. Although the current surge is not as pervasive, graffiti applied with knives and acid is more destructive. And, Chief Hall added, policing the problem is just as difficult today as it was in the past. Vandals armed with knives or etching acid can deface a subway window "in under 10 seconds, and make their exit," he said, and those using spray paint often make their mark after midnight, sneaking into tunnels or storage yards. Mr. Lombardi said he could not provide an estimate as to how much the transit agency was spending to remove scratches or acid-based graffiti from windows. But for now, he said, only windows that are defaced with profanity or racial epithets are replaced, leaving the scratches and acid scrawls. In some cases, train cars that have been marred by a large amount of graffiti are taken out of service for hours of repairs, leading to service disruptions, Mr. Lombardi said. He said the number of such major graffiti attacks, which require at least eight hours of work in terminals, had nearly doubled last year, to 101, from 52 in 2004. So far this year, there have been 72 similar cases, he said. While graffiti arrests in the subway system declined last year, to 110, from 149 in 2004, they have surged so far this year to 122, according to police records. Under a city law that went into effect this year, etching acid, typically used by artists who work in glass, cannot be sold to people under 21. Chief Hall said that in a recent undercover investigation a 17-year-old had not been able to buy the acid at several stores, but that many young vandals arrested for graffiti vandalism had easily bought the acid on the Internet. New York City Transit officials said they had security guards assigned to several subway depots and yards, but declined to respond yesterday to Mr. Feinstein's proposal about hiring more to protect subways from vandals. The officials said that the proposal to put cameras in subway cars was already under consideration and that discussions were under way with several companies that manufacture video monitors. But they said it was too early to say how many of the cameras would be used in subway cars, or when. The transit agency has budgeted $25 million to put cameras in hundreds of buses and at the entrances of about 60 subway stations, but subway trains are not included in that plan.

Normel and Baler, maybe they're new but they did everything possible to not go over one single number on that car. Very cool.

I heard the book was mentioned in Newsweek magazine last week, with photos of Jase and Faves included. That's pretty prolific. Wouldn't suprise me if the railcops attempt a show of force for a while, might be a good time to chill for a bit and see how things go. Many, many nice flix in there, some of my favorites are the KING whole car with the marriage proposal on page 319, the LEP piece on page 278 and the striped Hybrid piece on page 271, I only wish they would have included the full tags on the left side "Democracy for America, Impeach Bush". Nicely said.

The forward by Henry Chalfant is fantastic. "Graffiti on freights is like coming home." So true.