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CITY EXPANDS ANTI GRAFFITI CAMPAIGN
PRIVATE SECTOR TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SERVICE
Published: Friday, April 16, 2010
Akron’s Graffiti Truck will be busier than usual this spring as it’s “to-do” list grows.
The Graffiti Truck, owned by Keep Akron Beautiful (KAB), has been eradicating urban scrawling and painting with its high powered blasting device for more than a year now. But until now, its focus was on public property.
“Now that we have worked on perfecting the process, Mayor Plusquellic asked us to make the Graffiti Truck available to private, commercial property owners,” said Keep Akron Beautiful president and CEO Paula Davis.
Beginning this month, the city and KAB are deploying the truck to those wishing to employ its services on graffiti that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings on private, commercial property.
The cost to the property owner, according to Public Service Director Rick Merolla, would be $50.
"We call it the Graffiti Wipeout System, and anyone wishing to have the Graffiti Truck’s services must call our 3-1-1 Call Center and request it,” said Merolla. “We will schedule the truck and crew for the work at a cost of $50 to the property owner.”
The truck uses methods similar to sand blasting, utilizing a hose with high powered water and baking soda pellets as an abrasive. On occasion, the crew will use a solvent rather than the pellets, according to Davis.
“What we have learned from using the Graffiti Truck on public bridges, walls, buildings, signs and other publically owned surfaces, is that sometimes an abrasive can be too strong. So now the truck carries solvents and paints on board for those times when we don’t need the power of the baking soda pellets,” added Davis.
Keep Akron Beautiful is part of the national effort known as Graffiti Hurts. Mayor Don Plusquellic agrees that graffiti is harmful to our cities. “Graffiti is the most common type of property vandalism in our country,” said Plusquellic. “And graffiti cleanup takes a big chunk out of municipal budgets. Phoenix, Arizona---for example---spends more than $6 million annually on graffiti clean up. The city of Chicago budgeted $6.5 million in 2006.
For graffiti removal last year, Keep Akron Beautiful used 44 community-service-sentenced workers, at no cost, working under a full time supervisor from Keep Akron Beautiful. They invested 225 hours on eradicating the public markings and removed graffiti from 292 public sites. All told, the City spent more than $20,000 for the work in 2009.
The City of Akron also does graffiti removal with its Neighborhood Nuisance Unit, the police department and the Downtown Akron Partnership on downtown properties.
The Graffiti Truck also removes markings from traffic signs, traffic signal control units and utility boxes.
“It’s an ongoing battle to keep our community beautiful,” said Davis. “We’re fortunate to have the tools to make it happen and are excited to take on some new ‘customers’!”
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