Sound Transit parked a new train next to Interstate 5 at Tukwila, where the public would see the agency’s progress toward next year’s grand opening of the light-rail system.
Trouble is, the site was also a prime showcase site for taggers.
The vandalism was reported to transit officials early Saturday. The train is to be cleaned by today, spokeswoman Linda Robson said.
It has been parked on an elevated guideway near the southbound freeway lanes — just north of exits to Southcenter and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It’s a conspicuous place where 131,000 vehicles pass each weekday in the southbound direction alone.
A passer-by, Mike Muller of Tacoma, said he phoned Sound Transit several days ago to complain that the train looked like a prime target, and was assured the agency has 24-hour security.
He worried that taxpayers would be stuck with a cleanup bill, he said.
But Sound Transit invested up front in paint-removal equipment and training, so its own crews will clean the damage at “minimal” cost, Robson said. “It’s one of the things you plan for when you operate an urban transit system.”
Personally, I prefer to plan for the locking of taggers in a pair of stocks and the public being able to toss rotten fruit at them.
Hit the link and take a look at the picture attached to the article. This isn’t some scrawled code word, this is 30+ minutes worth of work on an elevated, though unlit, railway along a very busy section of I-5. It is of the type that “urban intellectuals” like to try and call “art” when it is painted on someone else’s property.
We, the taxpayers, are still betting hit with the bill to clean it up. The reporter was just not smart enough to mention that the cost had been added in beforehand.
Of course, the tagger’s fame is now increased hundreds-fold because his work is featured in the press….