Cleaning up graffiti
We always appreciated the quick, caring response in Lakewood. Denver cleans up graffiti for free. In Lakewood, neighbors organized to keep neighborhoods clean.
A few months ago, there was a big meeting in Denver about what to do about the graffiti problem. The City spends about $1 million annually to clean it up and that is increasing. A committee formed after the meeting is now recommending that the City quit doing the cleanup and make home and business owners do it within two to three days.
I am not in favor of government doing things for us that we should do for ourselves. It may be a good idea for each home and business owner to be responsible to take care of their own area and you may have to force the lazy ones to do it. So, I can’t really oppose this new idea.
But here is what bugs me. It seems like a copout on the City’s part. They call a meeting to figure out what to do and then announce that they are getting out of the business and are going to put more pressure on the little guy. Thanks a lot.
There is a nice white fence down the street from me. It looked good when it was installed. Now it has become a favorite target of paint vandals. I feel sorry for the owners. I wonder if they now regret their choice of material.
It seems that as soon as they clean up one mess, another appears.
From what I read awhile back, gangs are doing most of the graffiti and they use violence to protect their marks. They will go after another group who covers their tags. I hope that the homeowner will not become a target as well.
It seems what was left out of the committee recommendation was more enforcement by the police. As I said before, the Denver Police are not very responsive. If you look out the window and see a crime being committed don’t expect them to come running. Now there are times they will turn on the lights and siren but small crimes are a low priority. If they show up, it may be 20 to 30 minutes later, long after the criminal is gone.
If the attitude of enforcement was changed then maybe the graffiti problem could be curbed. It also does no good if once someone is caught they are allowed to breeze through the system with little consequence. These are two areas that government can do something where the average citizen can’t. I hope they will.
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I live in Thornton. When I first moved in this neighborhood there was a mexican family with out of control kids.Luckily they were in the process of being evicted. I felt bad for the mother I did helpher with food when I could and let her use my phone.
Her son decided to tag the neighborhood one night. Everyone in the neighborhood new him because he was a trouble maker. My neighbor and I as well as someone else called the Thornton Police as we watched him tag our entire neighborhood. All of us new exactly who it was and thought he would be arrested.
The police showed up 2 days after our call! They took a report asked if we would testify and left. Nothing was ever done . The punk wasn't even given a ticket or contacted.
What do you have to do to get police to respond? Tell them you think you heard gunfire.
Posted by on March 30, 2007 10:44 AMSimple solution. Shoot taggers on sight.
Posted by Jay on March 30, 2007 03:25 PMAs the former manager of a govt building located in Southwest Denver I faced the graffiti problem almost daily. The cost of cleanup often exceeded the monthly building maintenance budget . When guilty offenders were used by the city to repaint the building we were often tagged again the very same night of the cleanup.
So now the city has decided to fix the problem by punishing the victims of the crime. How twisted is that?
Maybe the members of Denver City Council should put on some painting clothes and seend a few weekends with a paintbrush in their hands. I can guarentee that after painting the same building for the 20th time they will be forming a vigilante group at the next city council meeting.
Put a bounty on taggers. Make it worthwhile to shoot them on sight.
Posted by QBT on March 31, 2007 01:26 AM