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CITY STANDARDS A JOKE FOR TATTOO ARTISTS!

BY DG WILSON APRIL 2008 www.THETATTOOSZINE.com

In NYC we have to take a test to achieve our license to tattoo. After a course by a Department of Health rep. we need to pass a written (open book) exam on how to keep a clean shop and sterilize surfaces. We need to pay the city to enable us to operate under their standards. We need to be licensed and answer to the Department of Health for our shops. If there is a complaint then the city can send in inspectors that can close you down. It is such a joke that it is almost fraud.

Why? Why is the City of New York joking about these standards, taking our money for a license that can be revoked if they don't like the way our shop looks or is designed? Simply because the city also houses jails and cells in Precints by the thousands THAT ARE ALL IN WORSE CONDITION THAN EVEN THE MOST NEGLIENT ARTIST WOULD EVER ALLOW!

WHAT IT IS LIKE IN JAIL: Hideous, disgusting and deadly. The bathrooms are soaked in urine, filled with feces and have roaches, rats even mice running around. There is garbage in the cells. Trash cans are overflowing with waste, food, urine, blood even more feces. The walls are stained with blood from previous fights and police brutality. The floors in all the cells everywhere are so filthy and contaminated that if it were a patch of SIDEWALK you would WALK AROUND the section... but the prisoners even the completely innocent are forced to sit even LAY DOWN on that floor! There is no water, no sink that is clean enough to wash your hands let alone drink water. There is no food, they keep the airconditioning blasting day and night so the body temp. of the suspect is lowered which enables the bacteria and diseases to fester.

That's right. Even though we the lowly tattoo artists are watched by big bro and they can take our livelihood away in an instant if our sink isn't close enough to a station yet THE CITY'S OWN "FINEST" have conditions for people that are supposed to be innocent UNTIL PROVEN guilty sitting for DAYS in such filth, so much contimanition that it is PREMEDITATED MURDER to lock someone in a cell under those conditions!

Even if the WORST tattoo artist tattooed in a BARN STALL you would still not have the same conditions that the police subject our customers to every day!

Hell, we as a society demand that people treat FARM ANIMALS better than the way the POLICE treat their "Suspects."

We have to pay our taxes which pays for the police and the people hired to clean up the Precints and Central Booking. We have to listen to a city that does not treat people humanly, and we have to endure a police force that would rather beat, torture and kill you rather than face the music for their dangerous and deadly actions.

We, your tattoo artists, are all simple working people that use our hands. We are enabled, ALLOWED by the city to work and ply a trade so we can pay our taxes and bills. They grant the ILLUSION of money, the chasing of the dream just to keep you paying them your taxes.

But in reality it is such a crooked game that will never end because those that hold the cards, make the rules actually feel that it is ok to treat people, innocent or not, in this way. They that make the rules and regulations for us all even the tattoo artists don't care about the people, the regular citizens...

Yet WE the artists do care about the citizens. YOU are our source of income for our families, our dreams for freedom. You Dear Customer are there for us when we need you. You are there with your desire and money in hand, and we the tattoo artist are the ones, and ONLY us can help you achieve your dreams in the form of art on your skin!

Just please understand, Dear Tattoo Customer, that there is so much more going on behind the scenes that affects your life and will ultimately affect OURS. We do you a tremendous favor, we transform your body into a work of art that is distinctive and glorious. You will always achieve a "Wow Factor" with your tattoos... (it doesn't run out like with the new phone or other gadget on the market.) We do a specialized art form just for you even though the actual act of giving you a tattoo could destroy us and end our lives... we do it with pride and at a personal risk.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Dear Customer, Citizens and Artists, we need to make our voices heard and complain. Those that are (God Forbid) going to be arrested take this to heart and listen: COMPLAIN about the conditions. EDUCATE those that can hear you about the dangers of body fluids and unclean surfaces to you and your body! For example the NYC Department of Health mandates that tattoo artists need to sterilize their entire station ALL surfaces with Madacide. Personally I use alcohol, Madacide, AND a Ultra Violet light. Still I put plastic down and wear cloves, wash my hands as well as use a hand sterilizer. I do that for YOU and for MY family. Do the police do that for YOU?! No, they put your VERY LIVES at risk by EXPOSING YOU to their conditions. It is Hazardous to say the least, to put you in the same room with those conditions found in jail, the fact that the city has Department of Health Standards for TATTOO ARTISTS makes their treatment of suspects and prisoners, YOU, all the more DISGUSTING... BECAUSE THEY KNOW BETTER!

DANGERS AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Bacteria, Virsus and other bugs on a surface like a door knob or chair can stay alive on these surfaces sometimes forever unless killed. Even then there are some bugs that will remain AFTER some sterilizations have been used! Now these days we hear of MERSA and other germs that DON'T die no matter WHAT you use! What you need to know is that they also can live on your clothes, in your hair, your watch, shoes, ALL SURFACES even on your skin for long periods as well.

If you have a cut, some sort of open sore the bugs will get into your body. Even if you don't... just by touching your eyes, nose or mouth you could spread the contimination right to your system instantly! When released see a Doctor and get antibotics to clean yourself out. But sometimes they NEVER go away and cause you pain and suffering regularly. Learn how to protect your family and friends. What you need to also know is that YOU may not get an illness but you can pass it on to your children, wife or husband without knowing.

WHAT TO DO: So when you, (GOD FORBID) find yourself in custody of a police officer, LOOK AROUND! Does their squad car, Pecinct, Holding Cell, Booking System, BATHROOMS look as clean as your friendly tattoo artist? IF NOT THEN DEMAND THAT THEY DO NOT PUT YOU IN THERE BECAUSE THE CONDITIONS JUST MAY KILL YOU!!!! That is right, I will say it again, make sure they know that you are aware of the Health Risks to YOU and that you will make them responsible if you get sick in any way!

If the city does not want us Tattoo Artists to make YOU sick with contimanitation....then the POLICE SHOULD NOT AS WELL!

But of course the glaring difference here is that THE TATTOO ARTISTS' DON'T LOCK YOU INTO THEIR SHOP FOR DAYS like cops do to you!

The police need to treat people at least as good as your local tattoo artist.

Call your local police station and ask if you can take a look at their cells, see the conditions for yourself, if you are going to be jailed then shout and demand better conditions and let them know that YOU know just how dangerous that filth can be for you.

Think of it this way, you wouldn't want to have your pets in there... you wouldn't want to have A TATTOO in there... so why would the cops LOCK you in there?

And FOR ALL THE POLICE OFFICERS READING this article: Please understand, YOU WOULDN'T WANT to be locked in there so why not have the people that are Paid to clean DO THEIR JOBS! Oh, and if you are thinking, dear officer, that you make those conditions that bad on purpose so the people don't want to return... get this right now... 1) IT'S NOT WORKING! 2) THOSE people that you arrest are also tattoo customers. If they get out AFTER being contiminated in your cell, then get a tattoo AT YOUR ARTISTS' shop then YOU are going to be catching their same bugs!

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