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| Author |
Message |
scg
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Save the Rock!
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Jun 21 02:45 UTC 1993 |
There is a proposal to remove the Painted Rock at the corner of Hill and
Washtenaw. The neighborhood group on the other side of Washtenaw from the
Rock has been complaining that the rock is attracting noisy drunk crowds, so
they want the rock removed. Wouldn't it make more sence just to enforce
and/or strengthen the noise and alcohol ordinances?
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| 102 responses total. |
jared
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response 1 of 102:
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Jun 21 03:54 UTC 1993 |
Yes.
SAVE THE ROCK!
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aa8ij
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response 2 of 102:
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Jun 21 04:49 UTC 1993 |
Actually, the Rock is just a pebble with about 100,000 coats of paint.
;-)
I think that the neighborhood group is not seeing the forest for the
trees. Around that particular corner, there are no less that 9 frat houses
the 2 most active being just 1 block away. Might be better if the group
had some discussions with the frats/sororities instead of removing the rock.
I also think that keeping the rock will discourage vandalism. If there
is no rock to paint, there are bound to be some unlucky folks with
weird colored cars. And some of the artwork is sorta good at times...
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tsty
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response 3 of 102:
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Jun 21 06:06 UTC 1993 |
And, i've been told, they want the rock gone BEFORE UM starts up in the
fall - shades of the regents' shenannigans -
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polygon
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response 4 of 102:
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Jun 21 10:57 UTC 1993 |
Since the rock is in a historic district, the Historic District Commission
may be in a position to veto this action.
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rcurl
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response 5 of 102:
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Jun 21 15:05 UTC 1993 |
This seems to have been considered, or hinted at in the newspaper account,
but wouldn't it be possible for the city to contract with all the local
frats/sororities, for the maintenance of the Park, and the cleaning of
the stone to its condition when the plaque was installed? (I actually
read the plaque once - shows how long I've been in town.) It has been
unbelievable to me that the continuing vandalism has been condoned, much
less encouraged (school groups have gone to the rock to paint it).
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tsty
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response 6 of 102:
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Jun 21 15:52 UTC 1993 |
Better to have a painted rock rather than a thrown one .....
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danr
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response 7 of 102:
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Jun 21 15:55 UTC 1993 |
Fooey on the neighbors. Let them move. Better yet, tell them if
they want it moved, they have to do it by hand. :)
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scg
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response 8 of 102:
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Jun 21 22:23 UTC 1993 |
I actually read the plaque too, a few weeks ago when a friend and I scraped
the paint off it to see what it said. I don't consider painting the rock to
be vandalism at this point. It has become more of a tradition instead.
As for the possibility that if the rock is not there other things will be
vandalized, this possibility seems very real. Ann Arbor is not the only town
in the area with a painted rock or other similar object. In fact, towns
without painted rocks seem to be more the exception than the rule. Any
assumption that removing this rock will remove rock painting from Ann Arbor
is probably unrealistic.
BTW the movement to have the rock moved (no pun intended) is not supported
by all the neighbors. I live less than two blocks from the rock, and many of
my neighbors support keeping the rock.
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scg
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response 9 of 102:
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Jun 21 22:40 UTC 1993 |
re #2
Actually, the average paint thickness on the rock is only about an inch.
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vidar
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response 10 of 102:
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Jun 22 02:26 UTC 1993 |
Even If we do clean the rock, those damn Fraternity and Sorority people are
going to repaint it anyway. Once when it was cleaned, an elementary tacher
took her students to the rock to paint it. Rather disgusting if you ask me.
Perhaps we should erect an electric fence around it if we do clean it. And
then keep the fence on at all times afterwards? I think we should leave the
rock right where it is.
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polygon
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response 11 of 102:
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Jun 22 03:33 UTC 1993 |
Various places (college towns, anyway) have a landmark rock which is
constantly being repainted. East Lansing had one in front of a
fraternity house on Abbott Road; some time around 1975, that switched
to a much bigger rock on campus, near Beaumont Tower, placed there by
the Class of 1873.
In the old days, which is to say, until around the time Ronald Reagan
took office, or the drinking age was raised, rock-painters were sort of
like surreptitious artists, plying their trade in the middle of the
night, causing passersby an interesting surprise in the morning.
However, nowadays huge groups show up, caring nothing for stealth,
bringing their loud radios, gallons of booze, and barrels of paint.
The paint gets smeared all over everything within a hundred yards of
the actual "target". And any notion of artistry or precision has
been completely lost.
In East Lansing, the sloppy painting of the Class of '73 rock got to
be such a problem that it was moved to a location right in front of
the campus police headquarters. Great protest ensued, so it was moved
again, to a middle of a field with no trees or structures nearby.
Ann Arbor is facing the same problem. The Washtenaw/Hill street corner
has been blighted with huge gobs of paint, smeared over signs and gate
posts, dripping from the trees, glorping all over the sidewalk.
I really, really don't want the Rock to disappear. But I can well
understand the motivation of the people who have called for its removal.
Rock painting has changed from interesting tradition to disgusting
vandalism.
In lieu of removing the rock, I would support the arrest and vigorous
prosecution of anyone who puts any unauthorized paint on anything else
in the vicinity.
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rcurl
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response 12 of 102:
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Jun 22 05:29 UTC 1993 |
Re #8: Even when you consider that the rock belongs to someone else?
How do you justify painting someone else's property without their
permission?
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tsty
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response 13 of 102:
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Jun 22 08:46 UTC 1993 |
Use somebody else's paint, of course .......
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rcurl
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response 14 of 102:
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Jun 22 14:48 UTC 1993 |
Hmmmm...that is just so *logical*: why didn't I think of that myself?
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scg
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response 15 of 102:
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Jun 22 19:15 UTC 1993 |
Yes, the paint on other things in the vicinity is a bit of a problem, but
most of the paint still goes on the rock. If the rock were not there, then
the problem of painting other things in the vicinity of the rock would get
much worse.
re #11:
Rock painting isn't just a college town thing. In this area, in addition to
the ones in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, there are also painted rocks in Chelsea,
Dexter, Canton, Whitmore Lake, and probably many other places. The Dexter,
Canton, and Whitmore Lake ones are at high schools, but the Chelsea one is just
in a city park along M-52.
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tsty
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response 16 of 102:
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Jun 23 03:06 UTC 1993 |
As well as pet rocks, too, I'd wager ......... Just think how easy it
is for those rocks. Need fresh underware, just grab a paint brush ...
Lends new insight to wiping ........
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mta
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response 17 of 102:
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Jun 23 04:36 UTC 1993 |
For the record, my high school (in the Republic of Panama) has/had a
painted rock, too.
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scg
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response 18 of 102:
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Jun 23 04:39 UTC 1993 |
So what these people are trying to do is to make Ann Arbor the only place
in the world with no painted rock?
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rcurl
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response 19 of 102:
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Jun 23 06:27 UTC 1993 |
How small a rock will people paint
If people must paint rocks?
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vidar
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response 20 of 102:
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Jun 25 01:21 UTC 1993 |
Any rock they can find.
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rcurl
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response 21 of 102:
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Jun 25 06:38 UTC 1993 |
I have noticed a number of unpainted rocks around town. (But I won't tell
where they are.)
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vidar
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response 22 of 102:
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Jun 25 13:11 UTC 1993 |
Most painted rocks are around Churches, Fraternities, and Soroities, anyway.
I think it's some Frat. Sorority. Thing. Or else just some weird college
thing.
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rcurl
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response 23 of 102:
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Jun 25 15:11 UTC 1993 |
It is a deep, lurking, fear of their mortality, and how fleeting it is
compared to rock: it is the unsettling thought engendered by *bare*
rock, which most people take for *granite*, but in their darkest thoughts
they know is not *gneiss*. They have no *apatite* for the natural,
believing it *obsidian*. But I think they are all *spinel*less; dumb
*schists* (excuse my *graphite* language, but it makes me *anglesite*).
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polygon
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response 24 of 102:
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Jun 25 15:57 UTC 1993 |
Heh. I'd not heard about painted rocks in non-college towns. It may
be that Ann Arbor is so influential that the Washtenaw/Hill rock has
spawned imitators in the immediate vicinity.
Does anyone know of "painted rock" traditions in places that are not
college towns, or near college towns?
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