HumidCity

So I was just leaving the lumber yard on N. Peters & St. Ferdinand, when I get a text message from Rex Dingler, asking me to go look at a sign Dr. Bob made, welcoming vistors to the Bywater. It sits on private property, owned by NOCCA, a bastion of the arts, next to X/O Gallery, another bastion of the arts. The sign itself was hand painted by local legend, Dr. Bob, who has his work displayed in the Smithsonian Museum, and on Oprah Winfrey’s wall, for crissake.

And there it is. A two by three foot sign, beautifully trimmed in bottle caps, as Bob’s pieces are, usually from Jax beer or Barq’s Root Beer. It’s professionally mounted on posts, up and out of reach, nestled under some shady trees, adding that Mayberry touch to our quirky bohemian neighborhood.

Except for the grey paint. Battleship ugly fucking grey paint, rolled sloppily over the face of the sign, leaving obvious roller patterens and see-through spatter. That Asshole From Hell, Fred Radtke, has been here.

This is not graffitti we’re talking about. This is not a ‘clean sweep’ or neighborhood beautification.
This is a vindictive act by a small and petty man, making an ugly fucking mess in a neighborhood he does not live in, or represent; a neighborhood that doesn’t want him here, and has petitioned the city to keep him away. He has childishly desecrated a sign, I repeat, A SIGN, not graffitti, that welcomes vistors to our funky slice of heaven. And he has marred the work of a local artist renowned enough to have been asked by the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington, DC, to display his work in their Folk Art Exhibit.

I, for one, and call me crazy if you will, would prefer that Dr. Bob’s art work, whether you like it or not, keep the “New Orleans Brand out there” rather than a skyrocketing murder rate and out-of-control thug behavior by our police force. But that’s just me.

Still, the police refuse to arrest him, and Sgt. Joe Narcissi keeps calling him “our friend”. Do you think we could be Sgt. Joe’s friend, too, if we, say, rolled grey paint over every fucking one of those illegal political signs that litters out neighborhoods and intersections? Would Judge Bonin thank Sgt Joe for allowing us to paint over all his re-election signage that spatters the Marigny/Bywater? And how about all those little signs on spindley metal legs that crowd every intersection? Those are illegal, according to city law.

WE ARE NOT THE FODDER OF THEIR WORLD, PEOPLE.
Don’t take this shit laying down.

Come to X/O Gallery this Saturday, from Noon ’til 6pm, and paint.

Make free art, to be given away, or sold to buy art supplies for school kids.
[Actually a good bit of the art will be auctioned/raffled off that evening at the FYYFF Fundraiser at One Eyed Jack's. Huge props to Micheal Dingler for getting involved! I'll be posting full details later tonight - Loki]
Look at the ugly grey paint on the sign that welcomes you.
Fight back with beauty, with fun, with love & sharing.
Otherwise….well, I can hear Bob’s blood pressure rising from my house.

There’s no doubt that Radtke did this because Dave Bachli spoke out in a video interview with Doug McCash, that wound up on nola.com. And because Rex Dingler is sponsoring a free art event there this Saturday. So this block has been singled out by the Man With The Get Out Of Jail Free Card. While they’re looking, let’s show them what community art is all about, because next thing you know, some cop will be waving a gun around in front of school children…
…Oh, wait…

Lord David
Pirate & Artist
Skull Club
New Orleans

The above is a message we can all agree with, although some might phrase it more delicately. These have been popping up in the Bywater recently, and I think they speak volumes about the state of affairs down here. Still, if thousands converging on city hall could not accomplish anything lasting why should a sticker? At least seeing this raised my spirits, which is also vastly important these days.

On a more practical front I found something that brought a grin to my face while grabbing some coffee at the Sound Cafe: a petition to the City Council for them to impress upon Fred Radtke (the ubiquitous Grey Ghost) that his efforts are neither wanted nor welcome by the community. I feel the delicious tingle of a “ban the buff” movement beginning to take root. I would like to take this occassion to wholeheartedly endorse one!

I want to see more of these turn up. The Magazine Street Business Association is one group that has several members that I know who have suffered the expense of Mr. Radtke’s “graffiti removal.” Likewise I am sure with many neighborhood associations and business groups. Mobilization is required. A simple petition is a start.

Finally we start to see some practical moves in this game of “get the psycho off the streets.” I know that most of us are unstable or self medicated these days (gee, how Tennessee Williams), but this guy is dangerous. Military experience and mental instability, which is what it increasingly seems like we are dealing with here, are a lousy combination. If his reported behavior in court during the NOLA Rising case or when he verbally abused that poor girl at Mojo’s gives any indication I would advise his removal from the streets, post haste.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

Sometimes items with similar, or almost identical, components come packaged very differently, confusing me beyond all reason. There’s always one different element that stands them apart…

For Example: In New Orleans we have a crazy man who runs around with a paint roller & a bucket of grey paint, screaming obscenities at shop girls, knocking folks on the head, and carrying a gun. The police, especially Sargent Fred Narcisse, public relations officer, refuse to prosecute him, even at the instruction of City Hall, because, as Sgt Fred tells us, “We like what he does.” (Personally, I was unaware that the police could dismiss charges against you, because ‘they like you’. I’ll be taking donuts over to the 5th district building every day now.)

New Orleans also has (had) a crazy man, on medication we’re told, who refused to let FEMA take away his trailer, probably because he had nowhere else to go, had gotten screwed by the Road Home Program, or some out of town contractors, or the City of New Orleans leveled his house for no reason, as they have done to so many others. I’m guessing the police didn’t like him as much, since they shot him dead.

The ‘Missing Component’ here is this: The Dead Guy was protecting his ‘Home’. The police killed him. The Paint Roller guy is defacing other peoples homes. The police protect him.

Now certainly, the police felt threatened by the Dead Guy, hence his deadness. Have they considered how that shop girl on Magazine Street felt with Paint Roller guy screaming obscene insults in her face? I guess that doesn’t matter, and won’t be prosecuted, because Sgt. Fred likes Paint Roller Guy.

I hope I’ve cleared that up for everybody.

Just in case you were wondering where all this lawless behavior from entitled officials comes from. Don’t piss off the cops, however, if you want to live.

Lord David
Pirate & Artist
Skull Club
New Orleans

Syndicated by permission of Michael Dingler. The entire HumidCity Team extends

our heartiest congratulations to NoLA Rising!!

PERSONAL VENDETTA GOES NOWHERE

We all know that Fred RAdTke had made it known in January “City Business” articles that his vendetta against NoLA Rising founder Michael Dingler was a personal one. It was a vendetta Mr. RAdTke claimed he would take all the way and try to financially cripple Dingler (a.k.a. ReX). In court on Thursday, May 22nd, Mr. RAdTke appeared and failed miserably in his attempt to make sure the charges he, in Mr. RAdTke’s words, “citated” against ReX would stick.

RAdTke lobbied hard, providing witness testimony that highlighted HIM as the champion of the city, showing photographs and news stories of him “cleaning up” New Orleans and even going so far as to attempt to take over the prosecution’s case and deal directly with the judge as though he were a lawyer.

Judge Sean P. Early would have none of it. Judge Early finally got the aggravated RAdTke to quiet. As RAdTke pled his personal case for vendetta, legal counsel for NoLA Rising (Buddy Spell of Spell & Spell) provided photographs of ReX’s work to Judge Early, upon which Judge Early stated that he thought the signs were pretty and had served a purpose. RAdTke, incensed at the comment, still fought on. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve just receive a tip that Fred Radtke of Operation Clean Sweep, better known in local mythology as the Grey Ghost, has just buffed Mojo, the coffeshop on Magazine St. Accoridng to the tip off he was told not to by the young lady at the counter who he then verbally assaulted. Evidently NOPD is currently looking for him in the area. I hope to be able to vefiy the truth of this in the near furture. Stay tuned.

-Loki, HumidCity Founder

Go ahead, read it. It is hilarious!

(Syndicated from the original posting on Flickr by “Rex” Dingler of NOLARising)

What’s all this hubbub there, mac? You say some graffiti non-artist has a beef with ReX, creator of NoLa Rising? Why would some guy have a problem with messages of hope. Let’s see what the verbiage is here…

Highlights from recent articles in New Orleans City Business:

“Fred Radtke is the Gray Ghost, the self-appointed scourge of the New Orleans graffiti scene.” -City Business {self-appointed scourge…ouch}

And he applies this theory to graffiti with a missionary zeal. To Radtke, graffiti is not just an eyesore, it is a personal offense to himself and the community. He accuses taggers of being anarchists, agitators and members of the church of Satan. {a zealot…wow, much like the people we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan who don’t know when to surrender…and WAIT, anarchists, agitators and members of the church of satan??? Are you kidding me? Just because I left the Republican party after fourteen years doesn’t mean I’m an anarchist. And I reckon that Christian fraternity I’m a part of it part of me being a phony (see below). Laughable and sad}

Radtke didn’t deny his war against Dingler is personal and said he will use all of his energy and resources to financially cripple him. He accuses Dingler of being in league with the graffiti artists, saying Dingler intentionally provoked him by hanging signs calling him the “Gray Gangster”. {Admitted to using the police in a personal vendetta…Wants to financially cripple an artist that is already broke (HA!)…Accuses me of violating my right to free association though he doesn’t know who I hang out with because he’s never met me}

“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” Dingler said. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.” {ABOVE THE LAW? Ask why?}

Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.” {I’ll take loser, phony, and the biggest pain in the ass from this man(?)…but he’s never met me so how would he know}

He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism. {So very different than the business signs he paints over and leaves hanging}

“I had no idea who he was,” Dingler said. “I thought it was crazy. Who would paint over messages of hope?” {Ask yourself what type of person would do such a thing}

“You have to have a pretty cold heart to do something like that,” Dingler said. {I stand by that statement}

Dingler said he was charged with violations of the law after Radtke became obsessed with him and embarked on a personal vendetta. {Which has been admitted to}

And it doesn’t matter if the signs happen to be hand-painted, “pretty pictures” of rainbows with inspirational slogans. {MORE GREY is better?}

To Radtke it is all vandalism and he is going to “gray” it all out, whether anyone asks him to or not. {ABOVE THE LAW?}

Radtke said taggers he associates with Dingler have thrown acid at him, threatened him with knives and smashed his truck windows. {I associate with no such people}

Dingler points to an online photograph of a bloodied young graffiti artist he claims Radtke attacked. {They are all over the internet along with the story}

“He may think what he’s doing is a corrective measure but it’s unauthorized in many cases and doesn’t correct the graffiti but just camouflages it with another color of paint. That’s the same thing,” said Lary Hesdorffer, Vieux Carre Commission director. “It may be with better intent, but that doesn’t make it right.” {So very plain and accurate}

“But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some people who, if they knew of an easy path to do so, might take the steps to prosecute Mr. Radtke,” Hesdorffer said. {Start by calling the police and reporting the grey paint as a criminal act of property damage, by the City of New Orleans definitions, what he does is considered graffiti}

Robert Mendoza, New Orleans Public Works Department director, said street signs require a specific reflective surface for night viewing and by painting them gray Radtke is putting the public at risk. Mendoza said Radtke is making the graffiti problem worse by smearing gray paint over an entire sign to cover up a thin, spray-painted signature. But Radtke is unapologetic. He said if the city replaced the vandalized stop signs or coated them with a protective cover, he wouldn’t paint over them. {So, it’s okay to put the public at risk if your a zealot? Or, perhaps you’d like to sell the city a very special paint coating? One that may not have worked in New Orleans East some time ago at a failed press conference that never aired?}

“But what’s the difference between someone who paints their name on a building and Radtke painting big gray boxes over the graffiti? Just because he ‘afford to get rid of it the right way that’s no excuse to do it the wrong way.” {I still stand by that statement}

Radtke said if property owners don’t like what he is doing, they can pay to remove the graffiti themselves or be fined by as much as $500 under a 1998 law that punishes property owners for failure to remove graffiti 30 days after receiving a notice from the city. {His way of helping the business owners eradicate graffiti was to lobby City Hall to increase the penalties for owners who didn’t remove the graffiti…does that include grey graffiti?}

“If people did their jobs, I wouldn’t be involved,” he said. “Right now the only thing we can do to deter graffiti on signs is to cover it up with water-based gray paint.” {Nope, wrong again. Not a deterrent…more of an invitation of a fresh canvas}

But some property owners question what separates Radtke from the vandals he is fighting. {Indeed}

—

So, feeling harassed by a Loser and a Phony…and yet still all up in arms about someone you think so lowly of…enough to call out the police in a city where the police are already under-staffed and over-tasked? Enough to clog up the court system that has a ten percent conviction rate of murderers? Enough to drive around and collect my artwork as though you are indeed my number one fan?

I think this city has more important problems to be dealing with than the likes of what this one man has decided he can personally use in his vendetta against me because I was willing to put my name on the line to call him out from the shadows and help those in the press question his true motives.

Sure, I’m taking some hits on this one, but the greater hits come at your civil liberties. The battle is bigger than me. New Orleans is a town that has long since used posting flyers as a means of letting people know what is going on. If Fred RAdTke succeeds, every business that posts flyers will then also be opened up to the same kind of harassment that I am suffering from this one man vigilante.

So, keep the peace, fight the good fight and keep on helping NoLA RISE, for we’re in this rebuilding of the city together.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE ARTICLE WRITTEN BY RICH WEBSTER OF CITY BUSINESS:

www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewFeature.cfm?recID=967

&

www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=25644

-”Rex” Dingler (via Flickr)

I’m sure that most, if not all of you, know the horror of Fred Radtke, the Grey Ghost. Many have tried to stop his vigilante tactics to no avail.

Now the NOPD has actually backed him in a vendetta against a local artist, who has been hanging removable messages of hope throughout the city, in hopes of inspiring those who choose to stay and rebuild. They flatly refuse to prosecute Radtke, even when he defaces private property.

Please read Richard A. Webster’s article on this.

CLICK HERE

These two short paragraphs are particularly disturbing;

“Robert Mendoza, director of the New Orleans Public Works Department, said Radtke is breaking the law every time he paints over graffiti on public street signs. But Mendoza will do nothing to prosecute the violations, he said, because his office lacks the resources and time to conduct an investigation.The New Orleans Police Department, however, condones Radtke’s actions. NOPD often calls him directly to cover graffiti and spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse said they have no intention of charging Radtke with any crimes. ”

Please repost this article, make a note of the names of Robert Mendoza at New Orleans Public Works, and Sgt. Joe Narcisse of the NOPD. Call these people repeatedly.

Call your congresman, your City Counsel Representative, and ask why a man City Hall says is a criminal is being supported by the NOPD. Ask why an artist, whose work is totally removable and loved by the locals is facing $50,000 worth of fines, and a man who defaces private property, sometimes violently, is above the law.

It’s a new year and a new broom. Pull together and stop this selective enforcement of rights and laws. We are not serfs on some distant Noble’s land. We are the citizens of the City of New Orleans, and these people are elected and paid by US.

If one man is above the law, the rest are beneath boot heels. Stand up for your rights, New Orleans. Haven’t we had enough?

Lord David

Skull Club

New Orleans

Whether it’s the side of your business , your business advertisement on the street, your neighborhood street signs or your local New Orleans artists, the “GRAY GHOST” will do his signature “TAG”…making him the least talented graffiti artist in the city. He TAGS with a “look-out,” is known to carry a gun and has allegedly assaulted a young man who tried to photograph his crime.

Originally designed to be a graffiti abatement / anti-gang activity program, it’s our assertion that Fred Radtke has over-stepped his boundary and his mission and ultimately become part of what he had disdained before. Ordained a vigilante graffiti czar by the corruption-riddled Morial Administration, he now no longer has any respect for private or city property and paints at his own whim.

If you see him,, report him to city officials and/or the police. What he is doing is as much graffiti as those he says he is “erasing.” If you see your neighborhood signs painted GRAY, call the street signs people at 504-658-2299 and asked that it be replaced.

Call your city council person and complain about this New Orleans nuisance!

Haven’t we had enough GRAY in the last two years? Do something about it!

STOP FRED RADTKE FROM PAINTING GRAY!!

Go Here to Access a printable copy of this flyer, help spread the word!

This message brought to you by Dingler , Loki, and the Bad Fred! Community on Flickr.

Grey blocks painted on every available surface, including street signs (which we have few of these days), is an unappealing sight. Not only is it grafitti, but it is ugly, Orwellian looking and unwelcome. The idea that rolling grey paint over any grafitti is an improvement is one lacking in taste as well as sense.

Such is the Legacy of Fred Radtke, also known to locals as the Grey Ghost. I don’t care how you try to rationalize it, he is doing exactly what he rails against: tagging. Anyone here seen street signs that have been painted over with a nice block of grey, rendering them unreadable? That is him.

I have been fed up with this nimrod for quite some time, and it seems that lately I am not the only one.

Comments are accruing on the New Orleans LiveJournal Community, and a new photo group on Flickr exists to document the ugliness he is creating by “cleaning up.” Rumor has it that he has some funding from the city. Any leads on that would be greatly appreciated.

(NOTE: My actual 9-11 post is forthcoming later this evening. Just had to get that off my chest - Loki)