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Back wall of the ABC Board on Broadway. Photo: Urban News
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Graffiti has ‘reached new heights,’ if you know what I mean!
Staff reports
While being in the media is possibly aiding in their notoriety, it wasn’t something the Urban News could pass up when it went to a level of this magnitude.
Graffiti complaints are on the rise across the USA, and some cities report as much as a doubling in calls about defaced property. A meeting was held at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce to discuss how to deal with downtown issues like graffiti, panhandling and litter. In these hard economic times business owners and resident property owners are spending money unnecessarily to remove graffiti and tagging vandalism from their properties.
Said one Chestnut Hill resident who did not want to be identified,
“I’m a senior citizen and on a fixed income. What choices do I have –
to buy food, medicine, or let the graffiti stay there – I can’t afford
to have it removed.” An employee of the ABC Board office on Broadway
shared, “We have painted this wall numerous times. We just give them a
fresh canvas to start all over again. Eventually it will start costing
the taxpayers.”
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A Pepsi billboard on Charlotte Street,
May 2009. Photo: Urban News
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APD officers have conducted more than 50 surveillance operations
and logged more than 500 hours of investigative time into arresting
individual graffiti vandals/taggers in an effort to combat property
damage that costs the city and individual property owners hundreds of
thousands of dollars each year.
“APD Patrol Officers, Community Resource Officers, and
Investigators have done a tremendous job trying to reduce the amount of
graffiti vandalism that occurs in the city,” said Tim Splain, captain
of the Criminal Investigations Division. “Despite their efforts, the
public perception is that graffiti crime is increasing because this
type of vandalism is so visible. We, as a community, need to continue
to enforce existing laws, look toward restricting the availability of
paints and markers used for graffiti vandalism, and work together
toward a comprehensive graffiti removal program.”
240-West overpass above North Lexington. Photo: Bob Pazden
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