The artist known as "BORF" pleaded guilty in court yesterday, see story here.
Logan Circle was no stranger to BORF graffitti and tags, and today they continue to be present on street lamps, mailboxes, bathrooms, and trash cans (just look up and down 14th Street).
John Tsombiko's sentencing will be in February.
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I have cleaned Borf's graffiti off the building I live in two times and off the mail transfer box next two it four times in the last year. Can anyone tell me the name of the Judge he will be up against? I'd like to offer him/her some community input on the time, money and trouble he has caused me and many others.
Within the past two months we have had the name BORF painted on the transfer box at O and 12th. I thought this guy was in jail ... Or do we have copy-cats???
Does anyone know how to go about getting trasfer boxes removed? The one on Kingman at P isn't used by the USPS anymore. It's only purpose seems to be as a target for graffiti and it clutters up the sidewalk.
I can't believe this. If you guys want to have a graffiti/character-free home and neighborhood, please do all of us a favor and move to Virginia. I would grant you that Borf got a little out of hand there at the end but you must admit that what he did is better than gang tags and, to many people, is considered art. You people complaining about graffiti, stores thant sell single alcohol servings, etc. need to get a grip and realize that people lived here before you did and will still be here when you sell your little condo and move to Vienna or Clarendon or whatever. Get over yourselves.
Vandalism in the form of graffiti doesn't add "character." Picking up broken beer/pint bottles from my yard, tree boxes and street every day is an activity I could do without and those that vomit, urinate and even leave their used syringes on my doorstep aren't giving added charm or flavor to our neighborhood either.
"Picking up broken beer/pint bottles from my yard, tree boxes and street every day is an activity I could do without and those that vomit, urinate and even leave their used syringes on my doorstep aren't giving added charm or flavor to our neighborhood either."
Awww. Poor baby. Dealing with litter, graffiti and (horror!) poor people come with living in a city. I repeat - If you can't deal with it, move to Virginia.
I hope this blog will focus on the real issues facing this community. With all of these muggings being reported I would think people could live with a "Borf" here and there. Unbelievable.
The purpose of this blog is to help Logan Circle emerge as a stronger and safer community.
Your words telling your fellow neighbors to basically shut up or move out is not what I consider to show acceptance, tolerance, or flexibility - the characteristics that you are telling them they need to have especially in the case of BORF and other circumstances you have given.
To: Anonymous Graffiti Lover
What will you do if/when we succeed in cleaning up this neighborhood? Perhaps you should start looking for a place to live in NE while prices are still low and there is character to spare…
Well, I never said I was a graffiti lover or a BORF lover or a lover of anything, really. I am quite fond of our neighborhood, though, and EVERYONE in it - muggers and other violent people excepted. I don't think we need too much "cleaning up." And I think your insinuation that Logan, Shaw and the perfectlly OK neighborhoods in NE need "cleaning up" is offensive. I'm all for cleaning up vacant or derelict buildings, picking up litter, looking out for crime. What I'm not for is people who move to a growing neighborhood and immediately complain about noise, trash, graffiti (again, things I never said I was any "lover" of) and all of the character and businesses that the people in the neighborhood long before them know, bult and love. Will you now be happy until the 13th Street market is a Starbucks? Until the Giant is a Borders? Until the entire neighborhood is rid of anyone and everyone who makes less than $100k and looks and feels like Clarendon or ballston or Upper NW?
What's this hatred of Virginia? Did you just move to Logan from Clarendon? I don't live in Virginia but I don't go around with my nose in the air to those who do live there.
Lol. Nothing's wrong with Virginia. I definately prefer DC but have no problem with Virginia. Never lived there either. There is a distinct difference between DC neighborhoods and a neighborhood like Clarendon. I just don't want Logan or any other neighborhood around us turning into an all-white, squeaky-clean haven for the Container Store or Barnes & Noble. All I'm saying is that if you expect no litter, no graffiti and no poor people and want to be able to walk to a national chain store than you should live in Virginia. That's what's in Virginia. It's not what's in Logan. No offense meant to anyone.
To Graffiti Lover:
You write as if all we do is complain. Many of us have put more than our money where our mouth is. We clean our alleys, our bushes, our door steps and even our buildings of not only graffiti but all kinds of garbage including but not limited to: drug paraphernalia, used condoms, food and liquor containers, human feces and much more. We attend community meetings (LCCA, ANC, etc) in an effort to try to get all the issues that exist addressed. We volunteer and donate money to community organizations.
What have you done lately (other than admire graffiti)??????
If the choices are Graffiti/Garbage vs Starbucks/Barnes and Noble …. I CHOOSE COFFEE AND BOOKS ANY DAY!!!!
I hope that our neighborhood can find a happy medium but if we can not I am sure my neighbors making over $100K a year will not be defecating in my bushes!
Bravo. I'm glad you're doing that much for the neighborhood. I'm relatively new here so can't say I've been as active as you. I'd certainly be more interested in participating neighborhood improvement work. I think, though, that taking care of your property, cleaning up after yourself, helping your neighbors and not hurting others is solid contribution to any community.
I'll pick up trash. I do that whenever I see it. What I won't do is look down my nose at any of my neighbors, whether they make $100k or $0k. What does the LCCA or the ANC do to help those who live in our neighborhood who don't have a home? Or those who (though inexcusable, really) feel the need to defecate in someone's bushes because they have nowhere else to go? I would gladly sign up for those efforts.
I will miss Borf. If you don't understand or appreciate his brand of political art, that's fine, but you don't have to diss him by conflating it with "broken beer/pint bottles ... those that vomit, urinate and even leave their used syringes."
The last time I checked, transfer boxes are public property. What else would you have graffiti artists use for a canvas? Borf has contributed more to DC than most people, and he has risked his ass to do it. And contributing to the discourse of the city, even in a small way, means more to me than having one more person getting involved in parochial neighborhood crap.
Public property? They belong to the United States Postal Service.
I have sat here quietly reading these blogs and I just can't keep quiet anymore. You have to be the biggest idiot on the face of the earth. I am not usually one to insult others, but if you really think that graffiti, which is considered destruction of property, is ok because it is on public property, then your head is so far up your ass that you can see your tonsils. Listen you freak. You say that "Borf has contributed more to DC than most people, and he has risked his ass to do it." He has made an environment of filth and chaos and and complete disarray with his "drawings". Try reading up on the broken window theory of society. Then maybe we can have an educated conversation. Until then, clean your yard, and I hope that nobody craps on your sidewalk, because after all, it is public property and you seem to think that is ok.
Spray-painting your name or using a stencil doesn't equate to art nor does it make any relevant social statement. Let's not give BORF more credit than he is due.
Frankly, if the option is "put up with graffiti/trash/syringes or move" then why stop there? If we're somehow supposed to accept that this stuff "comes with the territory" of living in an urban area, then why don't we all just shut up about the muggings, the gunfire, the drug trade, the violent crime? Because those pretty much "come with the territory" too. Should we just shut up and deal with that too?
I have visions of Basquiat dancing in my head. He started out as a graffiti artist too, and now his art sells for millions. Perhaps BORF has adopted the Basquiat business model? If so, he's a smart guy.
Personally, given the choice, I'd prefer a little graffiti over all the other stuff that goes on in Logan. I'd rather have this artist living & working here than all the drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and muggers that thrive in this neighborhood.
I'm not diminishing BORF's crime. I'm just trying to put it in perspective in my own mind. I advocate giving BORF a break - he's not harming anyone, with the exception of the people who have to clean up his "work".
All you rich fucks from Washington and Virginia are rich fucks from Washington and Virginia. You are too stuck up and rule-following to appreciate the statement that graffiti makes. Your idetities are completely shaped by the superficial society that surrounds you, while people like Borf are solid individuals who try to prevoke thought and true intellect in closed-minded conformists like you. I agree completely that your starbucks drinking, borders hopping, trendy ways are NO WAY TO DEFINE WHO YOU ARE. Yet, you can see no further than the corporate spoon and decide to stand for arrogance and blindness. When did people forget how to be real? And those complaining about having to spend money to clean up their property, don't actually do anything except have lower class citizens do your dirty work. Try living a little.
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