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Spraypainted sculptures in Rootwad Park. Photograph by Thomas Crone
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Photograph by Thomas Crone
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Photograph by Thomas Crone
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Photograph by Thomas Crone
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Facebook screenshot, October 26, 2015
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Facebook screenshot, October 26, 2015
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Facebook screenshot, October 26, 2015
On a remarkably beautiful, sunny October afternoon, BJ Kraiberg spent part of his Monday afternoon picking up trash at Rootwad Park. Built by the late Bob Cassilly, the space has recently been in the news, due to the possibility that the micro-sculture park sat within the footprint of the football stadium planned for the north riverfront; after initial reports indicated that the park was sitting within the demolition zone, later reporting has indicated that it would actually be blended into the overall stadium design. (You can read our own Chris Naffziger’s reporting here.)
This weekend, though, Rootwad was given some attention for a different reason, with most, if not all, of the attention generated through passionate postings on Facebook. On Sunday evening, Tanner Clark posted to his Facebook page this message: "Did I mention I am also cleaning the park. Making it more friendly. Cops loved it. People have loved it hmm mph haterz.” If the message seems cryptic, the meaning was easily figured out by a series of a photos accompanying it, with images taken of a spray-painted Rootwad Park. A previous post also showed a variety of spray paint cans set out with the note, "This might be going on for a while come join. You know where I am at ;)”
The posts drew the immediate ire of Max Cassilly, Bob Cassilly’s son, who added some tart commentary of his own. As of press time, his initial post had been shared 85 times and dozens of comments were strung into the conversation.
Wrote Cassilly: "YOU!! SOMEONE HELP!!! WE'VE BEEN SLIMED I HAVE A SCREEN SHOT ALL OF THESE NOW I NEED YOUR HELP IN TELLING THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO SHUN THIS GUY FROM JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING Tanner Clark, this is horrible, I am sorry if this offends you but i am offended so much. thIs the worst person in the fight to save this park that my dad built. so as history repeats itself, these pieces of artwork have been SLIMED. you have devalued it so much, My dad wrote that when some other people did some repair work and put a coating on the turtles at turtle park. Please stop. THIS IS SO BAD you should be fined for this at least.”
Comments between Cassilly and Clark (as well as their friends) became heated from there, with quite a number of people jumping in to weigh in against Clark’s actions, while a handful of his friends took a different tack.
To them, Clark’s been active in keeping the park clean, offering it as a space for various arts, music and dance events. His activity in-and-around the park, they reasoned, allowed him an ownership privilege.
Wrote one Mike Mc: “If any of u have ever been to one of the events he hosts it's for everyone. He does take care of the park. I myself have been there several times and have helped him clean the trash, the used needles, the broken glass. People who ride their bikes by or walk, or run always stop by. He does this for the community. What has any of you ever did for the community? His event supports a lot of St louis artist. Have any of u ever been down there? It's always trashed. He cleans it up every Sunday that he has an event down there. When was the last time any of you cleaned a park of trash and needles? Or even showed any support for your community. I support everything he does.”
Most opinions, at least on Cassilly’s thread ran, shall we say, in an opposite direction.
Kraiberg was one of those. A former schoolmate of Max Cassilly and his sister Daisy, Kraiberg wrote, "Ugh. Do you know the best way to remedy this? I've got time free this week to do any paint removal as long as chemical strippers don't do more damage. Let me know.”
Not content to merely talk the talk, Kraiberg was there on Monday, picking up trash as “[Clark] said he was the only one down here cleaning up and I wanted to do my part.” He wasn’t part of any organized effort, though at least one Facebook post indicates that a clean-up could be taking place soon. “I just came down on my own,” Kraiberg said, also nothing that “there wasn’t anything all that interesting,” in the trash that was there.
He had been in touch with Daisy Cassilly, and is determining if various soy-based paint removers or muriatic acid will the best course of action to remove the paint, which exists on various pieces of sculpture in Rootwad, from stones to metals.
Of course, as noted in earlier reports, the park sits in a somewhat desolate area north of the Landing. A few weeks back, Artica was held a few hundred yards to the north, and cyclists pass by with regularity. But the space has otherwise has a “hidden gem” quality to a lot of folks who’ve come across it for the first time. The sense here is that a lot more will be laying eyes on it in coming days, with different rooting interests at play.
STLmag.com has left messages for Max and Daisy Cassilly and with Tanner Clark. We’ll update this piece accordingly.
UPDATE, October 27, 12:48 p.m.:
On his Facebook wall, Max Cassilly’s responded to yesterday’s kerfuffle with the following:
“It's very weird that these people think that I can save this park by picking up cigarette butts. I'm not a rich old lady, I've apologized and [am] trying to get Tanner Clark , it's hard for me to respond in a positive way. He actually has helped but only because he has shown how much we care. Hundred of people shared and liked my post. But he refuses to, life is embarassing, and if tanner cared for the park he would not of spray painted at all, he told me that he could not afford graffiti cleaner, but fancy ass spray paint is fine, 8.49 [dollars] per can? muriatic acid is 6.88 per gallon bottle. This is horse shit, he wants to feel special. None of us are, we are a generation of children who are taught that admitting defeat is a little worse than debt. Admitting defeat is the first step in learning, now stop telling me to pay for a public works project and to go ward off the bums with a shotgun and building a park that I am unqualified to do. I'm not even qualified to clean up graffiti. My people, have said muriatic acid cleans it up. Which is cheap. so I've started a save rootwad page.”
That Facebook page is live now, right here.
This Sunday morning, November 1, architectural historian Michael Allen is offering a Dabble class called “The People’s Guide to the North Riverfront. Says the class’ primer: “This class consists of a guided walking tour that tells the story of the rise of the north riverfront as a key industrial district of the city. Participants will learn about remaining and lost buildings -- ranging from a bath house to the city's longest and skinniest building -- the role of the river, the railroad lines that once pulsed through the district and the recent efforts to renew the area. While the Rams plan has given St. Louis a business baron to discuss, the district's late 19th century development actually is due to an even more aloof and more powerful historic counterpart. The tour will explore how capital builds, melds, rebuilds and destroys cities.”
Among the stops on the tour, Rootwad Park. For more information on the tour, click here.
UPDATE, October 27, 8:33 a.m.:
On Monday evening, Tanner Clark responded to a text from this writer with a three-minute voicemail, which expressed many of the same sentiments contained in an "official response" that he's offered on his Facebook page, which, we'll note, has taken down all photos and posts relating to the incident of Sunday afternoon. Rather than typing out a transcription of that call, we'll link to the Facebook note here, again, emphasizing that most of the points that Clark made in his phone call are contained herein.
A snippet: "I started taking care of the park because the city was not. I would do all the lawnwork, I had to bring my weed wacker multiple times and cut all the grass with it. I go down once a month and clean up all trash, condoms, tampons, used methodone bottles, syringes, beer cans, broken glass, etc, etc, etc. I truly care about this park it became a home for the dance commmunity and we have no where else to go."
