What strikes me is that NYC used to have 90% of the world's graffiti in the early eighties, everywhere else was just treading on new ground. Now, a lot of large urban and small scale city environments are messed up with graffiti. My city is covered in it and it is ugly. NYC is now a 100 times more sober visually speaking than it was 35 years ago. I remember not seeing through subway car windows. Add to that, the noise and grime and it is a very depressing experience on a daily basis. It is not only a question of property defacement in terms of have-nots seeking to take ownership of a building, it is more about how a secretive minority seeking to erase quality in a public space. The respect for social interaction in architecture is destroyed by a stroke of a spraycan.

I do agree with owner solicited or accepted mural work, and even in the tag style if a rendering is provided and quality becomes a prerequisite. But unsolicited graffiti and tagging is a vain and hypocritical gesture for the most part.