Response to Style Wars

It's understandable that graffiti creates a lot of controversy. In one respect, it is a way for the youth and young adults to express themselves and feel like they have made their mark on society. On the other hand, graffiti defaces public property and the efforts against graffiti and in the removal of it cost the government and transportation system hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Graffiti becomes a problem when the subway system and sides of buildings are covered with tags. One person who was interviewed said that he only cared about bombing as many things as possible, he didn't care about making his work the biggest or best looking. This mindset is when graffiti becomes a nuisance: its not an art form, but just a way for people to mark where they have been. Graffiti just becomes a jumbled mess, and the areas that actually have graffiti that looks good are painted over by people who just want to be d-bags and go over other peoples work.
Graffiti has the potential to become something other than a nuisance. Taggers can put their work on a canvas instead of a subway car and sell it instead of having their work tagged over or removed. This allows the work of artists to last far longer than it would have on the streets. Graffiti artists could also be hired out to decorate sides of buildings, subway stations, and trains. This way, artists can leave their mark for all people to see in a way that will last, instead of trying to bomb every single train, leaving work unfinished and doing things that are potentially dangerous. The government should not totally shut down graffiti artist, but promote it in a way that will be beneficial instead of detrimental to the community. Some amazing art can be created if artists are given a chance by the public. If artists are commissioned to work in the interiors and exteriors of subway cars, other artists would be less tempted to vandalize the public property because there wouldn't be a blank canvas for them to work on. This would also give each train an individual presence, turning graffiti into a public art form rather than a destructive pastime.
There should be a way for the public and graffiti artists to come to an agreement to make graffiti less of an issue in the city. Now that it has surfaced, graffiti will never disappear, it will only evolve.