Groups throughout Phoenix participated Saturday in a citywide day of graffiti clean-up.
At Graffiti Free Phoenix: Wipe It Out!, 3,000 volunteers removed graffiti from locations determined by the city of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department.
During the weeks leading up to the event, the department scouted for areas in the city that needed work, said Neighborhood Services spokeswoman Stephanie Ribodal Romero.
Margaret Dietrich from the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association said this was the neighborhood’s first graffiti removal project as part of the effort to make Phoenix graffiti-free.
According to Ribodal Romero, Phoenix spends more than $6 million on graffiti clean-up annually.
Phoenix City Councilmen Tom Simplot and Michael Nowakowski recently launched an anti-graffiti task force. The year-long pilot program began in July. The new task force targets the area from 43rd to 59th avenues and McDowell to Camelback roads.
Under the program, the city’s “graffiti busters” and neighborhood preservation inspectors work together to remove graffiti. Local residents and businesses can also report graffiti and the city’s neighborhood services.
The city reached its goal of having 3,000 volunteers throughout the city.
The system that Phoenix has in place for dealing with graffiti is effective, Ridobal Romero said.
“Other cities look to Phoenix because the system works well.”
In preparation for the Wipe it Out event, the Neighborhood Services Department hosted a pep rally October 27 from 9 to 11 a.m. At the rally, volunteers were be able to pick up their paint and supplies for the November 3 event so that they could go directly to their assigned areas.
North Park Central Neighborhood, which extends from Indian School to Osborn roads and Seventh to 11th avenues, has a system in place for wiping out graffiti that is even more effective than the city’s Graffiti Busters program, said Gary Knight, the neighborhood’s block watch captain.
Knight said they usually find graffiti within a day and within two to three days it is painted over.
“We have a quick response that’s about two weeks faster than the city’s Graffiti Busters,” Knight said.
Knight said their system discourages repeat graffiti incidents. In September the neighborhood only had about 15 to 20 incidents, he said.
The city’s Graffiti Busters program was started in 1990 and has an annual budget of $2 million. There are 14 Graffiti Busters on staff, and in 2011 they removed 80,000 graffiti sites.
The city also has Blight Busters, volunteers trained by the city to remove graffiti. In 2011 they removed 7,000 graffiti sites and 7,000 illegal signs.
Contact the reporter at aubree.abril@asu.edu
