As a child growing up in the 1980s and watching such movies as Adventures in Babysitting, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, and Ninja Turtles, it was nearly impossible to not be afraid of subways. In the mind of a child, subways were filthy and graffiti covered, and rival gangs freely roamed between train cars, destined to clash in the car where YOU were sitting, at 3 PM of course. It was certainly no place for a white middle class kid from the suburbs. I remember having incredible anxiety the first time my father took me on the TTC. I must have been 6 or 7 at the time, going from Union Station to the Maple Leaf Gardens.

Eighteen years later I now love subways, and consider them an important part of any great trip to a world city. However, Ií¢â‚¬â„¢m still afraid of what lurks beyond the lit tunnels of the station platform. Once again, too many movies have traumatized me to the point that I am convinced that there are ALWAYS tunnel people, especially tunnel children whose eyes cannot tolerate light and will never be able to trust the í¢â‚¬Ëœsurface peopleí¢â‚¬â„¢. The more that I read in preparation for this article, the more that I am convinced that the New York City subways of the 1970s and 80s were shit your pants scary.

I appreciate graffiti as a legitimate art form and I believe that there is a place for it within our society in a legalized and legitimate manner. The one thing that I do not agree with is the vandalism of public property that takes tax funds away from other areas, especially the vandalism of trains and buses. Nothing annoys me more than when you are on a city bus or subway and forced to sit on some little brats Sharpie tag. It is almost as bad as aged gum residue.

Graffiti on NYC Subway cars began in the late 1960s and reached an epidemic in the 70s and early 80s, when nearly every train was covered from end to end. The entire subway system got out of control and in 1982 a multi billion dollar overhaul began, ending the era of tagged trains. By the end of the 80s the last bit of paint had been cleaned up.

There is a really good blog called @49th Street that gives a detailed background on the development of that era of the NYC subways. Such influential players included Dondi, The Fantastic Partners, The Fabulous 5ive, The Death Squad, and Iz the Wiz.

Recent years have seen a new trend that is costing NYC millions...etching acid. If only such artistic talent was directed towards constructive mediums, our cities would be better places.

While the í¢â‚¬ËœClean Train Movementí¢â‚¬â„¢ of the 1990s in NYC put an end to graffiti covered trains, it also helped to legitimize graffiti and spray paint art as an art form. Graffiti artists began setting up their own studios and galleries began showing their work.

Graffiti will never go away, so the best thing to do is embrace it and encourage city governments to dedicate areas where graffiti artists can express themselves.

Graffiti can be beautiful, accepted and commercialized ... just look at Banksy. Banksy hits the Tube.

For more from Michael Tunney, check out his other Capital Contributions.

For more on the NY subway, check out NY Transit Authority.