Graffiti cleanup takes a
big chunk out of municipal budgets. The City of Denver alone spends about $2
million dollars a year to clean up graffiti, RTD spends about $1 million.
By comparison, Phoenix, AZ. spends over $6 million a year in graffiti removal.
Do we want to ignore this problem and watch it to get worse, and more costly
to the tax payers?
Graffiti is the most
common type of property vandalism (35%) and costs $12 Billion annually in the
U.S. to remove, according to the U.S. Department of
Justice.
Immediate removal -
within 24-48 hours - is the key to successful graffiti prevention.
There are four types of
graffiti; tagger graffiti, gang graffiti, hate messages and generic
(non-threatening messages like "Bobby loves Suzy" or "Class of 2003").
About 80% of graffiti is
"tagger" graffiti. Nationally, gang graffiti makes up about 10% of graffiti.
There are four primary
motivating factors for graffiti vandalism; fame, rebellion, self-expression,
and power.
Getting the media to
publish photos and videotape of graffiti is often the ultimate fame for
graffiti vandals.
MAGTF fully recognizes
the difference between "graffiti style art" and vandalism. When done
legally, "graffiti art" can be a positive and inspiring form of communication.
It is the ILLEGAL acts committed by some artists and aspiring artists that is
the focus of MAGTF's prevention and enforcement efforts.
