Denver Partners Against Graffiti Rules

Folks,

Do you hate graffiti as much as I do? I hate it so much I think we should consider implementing some sort of medieval or middle eastern punishment for graffiti painting. Cut off a gang-banger's hands and I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing his signature painted on a dumpster near you anytime soon. But that's another story...

I just wanted to share with the rest of the barrio that the folks at Denver Partners Against Graffiti (DPAG) have been just stellar as of late in addressing graffiti in our neighborhood. The Downing Street alley between Bruce Randolph and 35th has been particularly nasty in the last couple months (pretty sure it's due to a neighbor of mine and his little punk friends) and as such I've had to call DPAG at least four times to re-paint the dumpsters on that block. They literally get there within two days and get the stuff painted over.

They're even getting pro-active now in cleaning the stuff up--For example, when you used to call in a specific address, they'd come out and clean it up, but if there was graffiti right next to it on a dumpster or light pole, they'd ignore it. Not only that, they didn't even have an inspector to follow up on complaints--They just sent out a request for removal of the graffiti to the homeowner, and if they didn't respond, nothing happened. Not anymore.

Now, it seems that they're (finally) keeping their eyes open coming and going from specific addresses, and removing and documenting other graffiti when they see it. I know, it sounds obvious, but this is the city of Denver we're talking about and I'm darned surprised and thankful they're that on-the-ball now.

So there you go folks... can't blame graffiti on the city anymore. You've just got to call it in or report it through the DPAG website.

And while I have no life and in all honesty have a lot of time on my hands relative to most folks, I can't cover the entire neighborhood. If we each take our block (or two) and are diligent about calling in the tagging when it happens, we all win, by each doing our own little part.

And trust me, it's worth it--The faster you get graffiti removed, the less likely the little idiots are to come back and tag it again--It may take a few times, but you can win the battle and the war, at least on your block--But you have to be diligent, and call the stuff in.