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?

102 responses total.

Yes.
SAVE THE ROCK!

  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...

And, i've been told, they want the rock gone BEFORE UM starts up in the
fall - shades of the regents' shenannigans - 

Since the rock is in a historic district, the Historic District Commission
may be in a position to veto this action.

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). 

Better to have a painted rock rather than a thrown one .....

Fooey on the neighbors.  Let them move.  Better yet, tell them if 
they want it moved, they have to do it by hand.  :)

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.

re #2
Actually, the average paint thickness on the rock is only about an inch.

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.

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.

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?

Use somebody else's paint, of course .......

Hmmmm...that is just so *logical*: why didn't I think of that myself?

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.

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 ........

For the record, my high school (in the Republic of Panama) has/had a
painted rock, too.

So what these people are trying to do is to make Ann Arbor the only place
in the world with no painted rock?

How small a rock will people paint
If people must paint rocks?

Any rock they can find.

I have noticed a number of unpainted rocks around town. (But I won't tell
where they are.)

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.

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*).

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?

dunno.

Do Chelsea, Dexter, and Canton count?

Yes.

Does high school count?

<grin>

The Chelsea rock isn't at a high school.

Posted at A2 City Hall

                City of Ann Arbor Park Advisory Commission

                        Public Hearing

        The Status of the Rock at Washtenaw and Hill
                Wed. July 14, 1993 at 7:30 p.m.

        City Hall Council Chambers, 2nd Floor, City Hall 100 N. 5th Ave.

        The City of Ann Arbor Park Advisory Commission is conducting a public
hearing to receive comments regarding the memorial rock at Washtenaw and Hill
Streets.  The park Advisory Commission will form a recommendation to City
Council as to whether the rock should remain in the current location or be
relocated.  The recommendation of the Park Advisory Commission will be based on
an evaluation of all comments received.

        You are invited to attend this hearing and to comment on the dispositio
         of "the Rock".  If you cannot attend please mail your comments prior
        to July
14, 1993 to:  The Rock, Dept. of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 8647,
Ann Arbor, MI  48107 or telephone (313) 994-2780.

Sign language interpretors may be arranged by contacting the Office of
the City Clerk. at 994-2700(V/TDD) at least 24 hours in advance of the
hearing.

  another number to the City Clerk is 994-2725
voice only.

re 31:
I'll be there.

Someone who is willing to stand up for their opinions in public!
Someone who is willing to stand up for their opinions in public!
    :)  Yay!

Actually, it reads as if what _some_ of the painters are doing is
causing a public nuisance or being disorderly.  If people were
forced to be responsible for how they painted the rock then they
could continue to paint it surreptitiously, i.e. as they had in
the past.

I would like to see the city contract with the local greeks to clean
the rock and park of all paint, and keep it that way. The city would
supply the tools and supplies, and the greeks the personpower, both
to do the cleanup, and to maintain the park as a park, thereafter.

I'd love to see things stay just the way they are.  It's a place where we
can just have some fun.  It's legal, so why not have some fun doing it?

I passed by there today, and it was quite a sight.  It was entirely different
since Tues. when I passed it last.  I think it's nice that we have someplace
where we can just go and have some good free fun (except the paint).

I suppose vandalism is fun to vandals. I propose that those supporting
this activity, buy a lot, put a rock on it, and paint it (but in accord
with evironmental regulations), and give this public park back to the
public.

This park is being used by the public, for an activity that some of the public
enjoys doing.  Granted, there are some people who don't like rock painting,
but they can just go find an other park.  We have lots of them.  Our parks
have several other facilities that work the same way.  Take the tennis courts,
for example.  I don't play tennis.  It is only the tennis players who benifit
from those.  Does that mean that I should go petition the parks commission to
remove the tennis courts, so that we won't tempt people to play tennis?  I
don't think so.

Why can't they just paint the rock, and leave the sidewalks, fences, and
trees alone?

When I first heard about this, I was opposed.  But I get more and more
angry every time I see gobs of paint dripping from everything within a
hundred yards of the rock itself.

Near Okemos MI, on Cornell Road, there is a hill in a scenic area.  This
hill has become of great interest to all the local high school students.
What they do is drive over the hill at 100 mph and become airborne.
Usually, they are intoxicated.  Frequently, several of the high school
kids in the car are killed.

After the latest series of deaths on that hill, the classmates of the
students who were killed submitted a petition asking that the hill be
removed.  The county road commission is now de-certifying the road's
"Natural Beauty Road" status, and is proceeding to remove the hill and
completely wreck a very nice area.

The reasoning for this is that it is too much to ask that high school
students be responsible and refrain from driving drunk at high speeds
on a hilly gravel road.

All right.  If it's too much to ask that people be responsible, then
tear out the goddamned rock.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss