Graffiti is a serious issue. Rival gangs marking their territory will imprint their logo on public surfaces. Taggers will mark any noticeable and hard to reach area just for the sake of being seen. And while it may be fun for the guilty few, graffiti is an unsightly menace for the rest of the public. Sooner or later, most building service contractors will come across some errant paint or ink at a customer’s site. So, BSCs should be equipped to remove the graffiti, or at least know a good specialist.

Not all contract cleaners offer graffiti removal. Many BSCs shy away from it saying they are not equipped or fear gang retaliation for removing logos. Others will take care of only small problems, and some leave all removal to a specialist.

But, Ron Hyatt, vice president/master regions, Coverall Cleaning Concepts in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., says any contract cleaner should be able to take care of it.

“A lot of commercial cleaners don’t see a lot of graffiti. It’s shock treatment,” Hyatt says. “They’ve never come across it before and think they can’t handle it. They think it’s too hard to get into.”

Small graffiti jobs should not be difficult. Many BSCs who rarely come across graffiti find that a spray-bottle, sponge, chemical remover and some good-old-fashioned elbow grease will suffice for the occasional problem. If chemicals do not work, then creating a new surface by painting over the graffiti is another standard method of abatement.

But some jobs either can be too large or too complicated for building service contractors to handle. Certain instances may call for a specialist. Inexperienced cleaners could make a problem even worse, especially if the surface is fragile.

“If [BSCs] are qualified painters, they should be capable of handling any ordinary graffiti problem,” says Barry Wood, president of Graffiti Control Systems in Hollywood, Calif. “But any sensitive historical or architectural significant buildings or structures with non-finished masonry surfaces, they shouldn’t handle.”

Realistically, Hyatt says, providing graffiti removal more often as a specialty or value-added service is not that difficult. It requires a low investment and can produce a good return. To get started, BSCs should be equipped with paint, ladders, penetrating sealer or coating and the key piece, a pressure washer. According to Hyatt, one with 2,700 to 3,000 PSI will work best.

There isn’t a trick that makes one a graffiti specialist, says Wood, but it does require a certain amount of knowledge of chemicals on different surfaces that comes with time.

Thinking ahead
Regardless, the best way to control graffiti is to get to it before it starts. Identify high potential areas and types of places for graffiti and proof it with a penetrating sealer or coating, Hyatt says.

The Graffiti Abatement Program in Tucson (GAPIT) in Arizona addresses the concerns of the city’s culverts first. Culverts, the slanted cement walls of the water drainage system that protect the city during rain storms and flash floods, can be as high as nine feet tall and perfect targets for graffiti.

“Tucson doesn’t have a lot of free walls to do graffiti on so taggers attack the culverts,” says executive director Michelle Phillips. “We really try to keep that area clean.”

Graffiti-proofing surfaces will reduce the amount of vandalism in that area. If a tagger can’t vandalize a surface, then he will try elsewhere.

GAPIT also tries a unique approach to preventing graffiti by painting artistic murals on the highly vandalized culverts. The expressions of life and unity provide a much nicer sight than the usual vandalism and have been effective at keeping tagging crews away.

If a surface was not proofed and has been tagged, the sooner the graffiti is removed, the less likely it will return. Ignored graffiti will ultimately lead to more graffiti. But once its removed, recurring vandalism depends on the type, says Wood. Gang-related graffiti is hard to control since members usually live there, but random taggers leaving their name or trademark can become discouraged by quick action.

“It’s a waste of time for a tagger if they can’t show it off,” says Wood. “If their friends can’t see it, they’ll go to places without an abatement program.”

Once the graffiti is removed, always reproof the surface to deter future taggers, Hyatt stresses.

Graffiti is a problem that continues to grow, so BSCs should familiarize themselves with at least a few ways to remove it. Even if graffiti is not a problem in every area right now, it does not mean it will stay that way.

Cities Enlist In The Graffiti Battle
Building service contractors can be called to remove graffiti from private property, but some city governments are getting in on the action. Municipalities from Tucson, Ariz., to Fairfax, Va. are setting up graffiti-abatement programs to remove vandalism from public property.

Reports of graffiti can come in through police spotting it while on patrol or through a concerned citizen. For example, the Graffiti Abatement Program in Tucson (GAPIT) establishes a graffiti ambassador in neighborhoods to limit multiple reports of the same graffiti.

In most cases, a city abatement program will try to remove graffiti within 24 to 48 hours to limit reappearance.

“The quicker it comes down, the less like it will reappear,” says Dave Tucker, sergeant for the City of Fairfax Police Department. “It shows people in the neighborhood care.”

City graffiti-abatement programs remove scrawls from public areas such as schools, street signs, bus stops and bridges. In most cases, simply painting over the graffiti is enough to keep it from reappearing. They have their own cleaning crews and don’t need to rely on contracted services. In Tucson, the non-profit GAPIT uses prisoners and youths from the juvenile courts doing community service. Tucson does not use BSCs because the city wants the responsibility for ensuring a clean area in which to live.

“The city needs to provide long-term commitment,” says Michelle Phillips, GAPIT executive director. “The city needs to be the leader.”

But when graffiti is on private property, the city is no longer responsible for removing it. Instead, the owners will be notified and asked to remove it within a given time period. How much time allotted depends on the city. For example, in Fairfax, the owners are given 24 hours, but in Tucson, owners get up to 10 days to remove the graffiti. After the given time, the city cleans up the graffiti itself and can charge the property owner. However, in Tucson, GAPIT feels talking to the owner works better than a fee.

“We don’t want to re-victimize the victim,” says Phillips. “We want them to understand why it needs to be removed.”

At times, though, the city’s requests can pile up. If an owner wants the graffiti removed immediately, he or she might have to rely on a building service contractor.

“There are a lot of natural-block surfaces in Tucson so you need sandblasting to remove the graffiti,” says Phillips. “It can cost $200 to $300 if done on your own. GAPIT will do it for free, but there can be a backlog.”

But free graffiti removal is rare. In most cases, private property owners will need to do it themselves, hire a BSC or get charged by the city.




POSTED ON: 3/1/2003