Archive for the ‘Graffiti/tagging’ category

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Taking Graffiti Removal to the Streets — Every Effort Helps

September 8, 2015
Removing tagging on a little can at Princeton and Warder.

Removing tagging on a little can at Princeton and Warder.

On August 19th I posted about efforts the community was taking to remove graffiti along Lower Georgia Avenue. At that time I also reported that I’d been informed that there’s been a significant rise in graffiti across the city — which is why graffiti abatement requests seem to take longer to be acted upon this year (when they are closed).

At that time I also vowed to do my part in removing graffiti in the neighborhood, so that the neighborhood is cleaner, faster and so that when a 311 request is submitted that it is for the graffiti that is beyond the ability of residents who have engaged to fight for a cleaner community.

During the Labor Day weekend, I took a walk down Warder Street and up Georgia Avenue to remove graffiti. I’m sure I didn’t get it all, but I made a dent and will be back out next weekend to look for the areas I’ve missed. I’m hopeful that with as much focus on graffiti abatement that is currently going on we can remove it faster than it occurs.

graffiti(Commissioner Boese removing graffiti at Georgia Avenue and Otis Place, NW)

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Fighting Graffiti on Georgia Avenue

August 19, 2015

Last Saturday, members of the community met at Torrie’s Restaurant to learn about graffiti removal and fan out along Georgia Avenue to remove area tagging. This effort was an outcome of the Lower Georgia Avenue Main Street Feasibility Study, and the focus area covers the area between Kansas Ave and Upshur St to the North all the way down to Florida Ave to the South.

Moving forward, supplies and a power washer will be available to community members to remove graffiti (details forthcoming). In speaking with Lauren Adkins from the Department of Small and Local Business Development, I’ve learned that graffiti is up across the city this year. This is one of the reasons that reports to 311 are taking longer to address than they were in 2014.

Community beautification and graffiti removal days are nothing new. I remember a similar event that addressed tagging and other issues around the Park View Rec Center that was held in March 2010. At that event, I learned about a graffiti removal solvent called Sensitive Surface Graffiti Remover.

I’ve decided its time to be more proactive. I’ll be restocking my supply of graffiti remover and removing what I can myself. If we all did this and only reported graffiti issues to 311 that we really can’t address ourselves, it would go a long way to keeping the tagging down on the community.

Below is a collection of photos from Saturday’s event courtesy of Jon Stover & Associates.

Graffiti 2015

Categories: Community Involvement, Graffiti/tagging
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The Wrong Way to “Get Rid” of Graffiti

July 24, 2012

I was a little dismayed to see that recent graffiti at our CVS was “removed” by painting over it (as you can see to the right). This is especially painful since DC will remove this for anyone that signs a graffiti removal waiver. I was also at a bit of a loss that the regional manager for the store at 3642 Georgia I’ve worked with in the past was no longer employed at CVS.

After digging around a bit, I finally found and made contact with the new regional manager … and am happy to report that they agreed with me that the red paint on the New Hampshire Avenue side of the building is unsightly and not the preferred manner to address graffiti. Based on the phone call I had with CVS yesterday, within the next couple of days (fingers crossed) the red blotch on the CVS will be removed.

Of course, now would also be a good time to circle back and see if I can get the bike racks outside the store reset so that they are useful.

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When Can Graffiti/Tagging Make You Proud of Your Community?

June 13, 2011

Products for removing graffiti -- click on image to go to the Website

Generally, there is nothing about graffiti/tagging that a community can be proud about, or so I thought. Yet this weekend I had an experience with tagging that made me appreciate my community all the more.

Saturday night there was a small rash of tagging that hit the Rock Creek Market’s dumpster, Washington Post delivery box, and a few street light posts on Warder Street. Nothing to big and nothing I couldn’t take care of myself … which is what I decided to do.

It was while I was removing the tagging on the dumpster that I brimmed with pride in my community. Not once, but twice, I was challenged by passersby who wanted to know if I thought I was “beautifying the neighborhood with graffiti.” In both cases the residents chose to get involved because they initially thought I was defacing public property and wanted to stop me. When they saw that it was actually the opposite I got a pleasant thank you before they moved on.

The experience really got my week of to a great start.

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Graffiti/Tagging on Georgia Avenue Finally Getting Under Control

April 27, 2011

While it’s going to take a little while to remove all of the recent tagging that hit the neighborhood, the offenders of the recent spat of 640/3500/RCC tagging was identified to MPD and known to them. Upon walking the northern part of the corridor, all of the tagging at the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro had been removed as well as a significant amount of the tagging down to Park Road. Of course, there’s still Nero and Beks to worry about.

One thing I’m encouraged by is the amount of community activism I’ve seen assisting the City try to get on top of this issue. I’ve been documenting as much tagging as possible and passing along information to assist with removal and there is a very active group of neighbors on Irving Street doing much the same along that part of the community. In several cases, residents have taken it upon themselves to remove tagging after they’ve documented it.

One victim, if you will, of the recent graffiti removal efforts was the more artistic graphic below which didn’t quite survive a day before it was removed. Sadly, it was actually the one I liked the best.

This happy bulldog skull graphic was found at the Georgia Ave.-Petworth Metro shortly before its removal

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Area Tagging Continues to be a Blight Along Georgia Avenue

April 12, 2011

On the evening of April 11/12, NERO tagged over the 640 tag that occurred over the weekend. This is at 3663 Georgia Avenue.

Last night was another busy night for graffiti/tagging on Georgia Avenue. While “640” hit the neighborhood this past weekend, the persistent “nero” apparently felt the need to reclaim their turf. Below are the locations of the current tagging between Rock Creek Church Road (north) and Park Road (south), with an additional location thrown in to boot.

  • Ace Cash Express 3663 Georgia Avenue (last night’s tagging on top of the weekend’s tagging)
  • Fisherman of Men Church #1 3641 Georgia Avenue Northwest (old tagging)
  • Fisherman of Men Church #2 3641 Georgia Avenue Northwest (new tagging)
  • Elegance Nails 3619 Georgia Avenue Northwest
  • Utility box NW corner of Princeton and Georgia (old tagging)
  • General Services, Inc 3613 Georgia Avenue Northwest
  • Lion’s Liquor & Spirits 3614 Georgia Avenue (tagging: RCC, 3500, & 640)
  • International Hair Salon 701 Newton Place (NW Corner of Newton and Georgia)
  • Park Road BP 3426 Georgia Ave. (SW Corner of Park Rd & Georgia Ave)
  • Park Road Community Church 1019 Park Road Northwest

Images of these locations are after the jump (more…)

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Warder Street Gets Tagged Over the Weekend

March 14, 2011

The balustrade at the Park View School with tagging by Bucktooth

Over the weekend, Warder Street north of Newton Place was tagged. The balustrade at the Park View School, along with the school’s wall, the wall at the Rec Center, and a few street lights were all defaced. You can see an example to the right of the tagging at the entrance to the school.

This tagging seems to be new to the area, or at least new to me. The symbol is apparently a pictogram of the tagger Bucktooth. In addition to Bucktooth, the new tagging in yellow seems to belong to “Zipe.” While less artistic, Zipe seems to have a sense of humor as he was willing to tag a chair that was on the curb awaiting trash pick up, which you can see below.

Tagged chair on Rock Creek Church Road

I wasn’t able to walk the entire neighborhood to see if there was new graffiti elsewhere. I’ve reported the new tagging on Warder, but for new tagging elsewhere it can be reported to the citywide call center @ 311. As a reminder, if it is located on private property it will require a waiver form. More information can be found at  the DPW Web site which includes copies of the waiver form in English or Spanish.

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Categories: City services, Crime, Graffiti/tagging
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