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‘Gray Ghost’ feuds with Nola Rising creator
NOPD citations could soon cost artist $50,000
by Richard A. Webster
Michael Dingler knew he was in trouble when the “Gray Ghost” appeared at the Freret Street Art Market in December accompanied by Joseph Joia, a New Orleans Police Department quality of life officer.
Joia cited Dingler for more than 1,100 counts of unlawfully posting signs on telephone poles that could cost him more than $50,000 in fines.
Dingler doesn’t deny the charges. Since Hurricane Katrina he has hung hundreds of hand-painted “messages of hope” throughout the city, signs with slogans such as “Smile” and “Welcome Back.”
Dingler said the charges don’t make sense given that Joia arrived with Fred Radtke, aka the Gray Ghost, who has made a name for himself by slathering gray paint over graffiti on public and private buildings — often without property owner approval.
“When I asked Officer Joia if he was going to file the same charges against Fred under the graffiti statutes, he said he was unaware of what I was talking about,” said Dingler. “Here’s a guy who is destroying city property, who has become what he said he is fighting against. And yet I’m the one facing all these charges? It’s selective enforcement of the law.”
Radtke dismissed Dingler’s accusations, called him a “loser,” a “phony” and the “biggest pain in the ass I ever met.”
He said Dingler’s so-called “messages of hope” are “vertical trash” that promote other forms of vandalism.
“It’s real simple: people either want to abide by the law or not,” Radtke said.
Common purposes
Radtke, 52, founded the nonprofit Operation Clean Sweep in 1997 to fight graffiti.
The former Marine covers graffiti full-time and depends on donations to fund his operation, including several $10,000 grants from the city of New Orleans and a $32,000 grant over a four-year period from Freeport-McMoRan.
Radtke expanded his targets after the storm from simply graffiti to signs illegally posted on telephone poles. He paints over band posters and political and business advertisements.
Dingler, also a former Marine and a New Orleans native, has organized Nola Rising, a post-Katrina campaign to encourage people to display public works of art meant to inspire people during the recovery.
The idea was to hand-paint signs with positive slogans such as “Believe,” and “Everybody radiates sunshine on the soul,” and hang them everywhere from Uptown to the Lower Ninth Ward.
Dingler said his friends warned him against the idea. They said it was pointless because his artwork would fall victim to the unforgiving brush of the Gray Ghost.
“I had no idea who he was,” Dingler said. “I thought it was crazy. Who would paint over messages of hope?”
A few days after Dingler hung his first signs, Radtke covered them with a thick layer of gray paint.
“You have to have a pretty cold heart to do something like that,” Dingler said. “I definitely didn’t think that what I was doing was a crime.”
Dingler is scheduled to appear March 18 in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. He said it is difficult to understand why he faces $50,000-plus in fine for hanging removable pieces of art while Radtke is free to splatter permanent gray paint on whatever surface he wants with impunity.
Radtke is an independent operator whose actions are not officially sanctioned by the city. City officials said they allow him to do his thing because of a lack of manpower and funds.
City support
Robert Mendoza, director of the New Orleans Public Works Department, said Radtke is breaking the law every time he paints over graffiti on public street signs. But Mendoza will do nothing to prosecute the violations, he said, because his office lacks the resources and time to conduct an investigation.
The New Orleans Police Department, however, condones Radtke’s actions. NOPD often calls him directly to cover graffiti and spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse said they have no intention of charging Radtke with any crimes.
Dingler said he was charged with violations of the law after Radtke became obsessed with him and embarked on a personal vendetta.
Radtke’s harassment has nothing to do with ridding the city of graffiti, he said
Radtke didn’t deny his war against Dingler is personal and said he will use all of his energy and resources to financially cripple him. He accuses Dingler of being in league with the graffiti artists, saying Dingler intentionally provoked him by hanging signs calling him the “Gray Gangster,” and posted his home address on the Internet.
Permission needed
Tiffiny Wallace, owner of the Lucky You Candy Co. at 4505 Magazine St., is a fan of the Nola Rising project and has several works hanging on telephone poles in front of her store.
“It’s a uniquely New Orleans thing and the kids who come into my store love it,” said Wallace. “I don’t understand why Michael’s being charged with all of these things while Radtke is free to paint gray paint all over my neighbor’s windows without his permission. It’s going to cost $1,000 now to replace them.”
Wallace contemplated pursuing a restraining order against Radtke to prevent him from painting over the Nola Rising signs. She is circulating a petition among Magazine Street business owners demanding Radtke secure their permission before he paints anything on their properties.
Radtke said he has no problem with that. But Dingler’s signs are illegal, he said, just as it is illegal to staple bills, posters or signs of any kind to telephone poles.
And it doesn’t matter if the signs happen to be hand-painted, “pretty pictures” of rainbows with inspirational slogans.
To Radtke it is all vandalism and he is going to “gray” it all out, whether anyone asks him to or not.
Violent past
As a result of the escalating tension, Radtke and Dingler said they fear for their safety.
Radtke said taggers he associates with Dingler have thrown acid at him, threatened him with knives and smashed his truck windows.
Dingler points to an online photograph of a bloodied young graffiti artist he claims Radtke attacked.
Radtke said the beating was self-defense and no charges were ever filed against him.
Diane Lundeen, owner of Petcetera on Magazine Street and a judge with the Louisiana Office of Worker’s Compensation District 8, said the city should oversee volunteers such as Radtke to coordinate his efforts and ensure business owner property rights.
Until then, he continues to operate as a freelancer without direct oversight or accountability, she said.
Dingler is compiling a database of Radtke’s handiwork that should dwarf the 1,100 counts he now faces. He will present his evidence to the police, just as Radtke did, and demand charges be filed.
“This all started with me trying to do something good for the city and now it has turned into a nightmare all because of a guy called the Gray Ghost,” Dingler said. “It’s insane.”•
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