Who We Are

City TEAM Leaders
Jim Conroy jim.conroy@tucsonaz.gov
Andrea Ibanez andrea.ibanez@tucsonaz.gov

City Team East Project for 2006-2007

As part of a comprehensive review by City Team East, the City Manager's Office and Neighborhood Resources, a Graffiti Task Force was established in 2006. The Graffiti Task Force included a diverse group of representatives, i.e. police, city government including Mayor and Council aides, community members, private sector, neighborhood groups, non-profits and other governmental agencies. Through active participation of the Task Force members, the goal was to establish a three-prong approach to graffiti through education, enforcement, and removal initiatives.

This is a report of the Graffiti Task Force activities of the past year.

Education

2006-07

• The Department of Neighborhood Resources (DNR) website was revamped with graffiti information highlighted in a more prominent location.
• Letters went out to all neighborhood associations about the new contractor and upgrades to service.
• Presentations were made at neighborhood meetings about prevention and removal.
• A Channel 12 program aired a segment on the City's new contractor, Graffiti Protective Coatings (GPC).
• Since Graffiti Hotline was established and publicized in July, 2006, an average of 1,100 calls per month are received (50 per day).
• Two workshops focusing on community partnership were delivered.
• A homeowner's brochure about preventing and reporting graffiti was developed and distributed.
• A Graffiti Prevention Poster Contest for school-age youth was conducted.
• Bookmarks with prevention and reporting messages were designed, printed and distributed to youth in the KIDCO summer program.
• A logo was created in conjunction with Corbett Elementary School Student Council.

2007-08

• A coloring book for elementary school-age youth is being developed.
• “Name the Graffiti Mascot Contest” prevention effort has begun using KIDCO participants in three Parks districts.
• Over 5,000 bookmarks to KIDCO school-year participants will be distributed.
• KIDCO leaders were trained to lead an interactive curriculum with youth about graffiti and vandalism.
• Two additional workshops on graffiti awareness and removal are scheduled, future workshops will be scheduled as needed.
• A retailer brochure has been developed and will be distributed during ongoing retailer education sessions.

Enforcement

•  The Graffiti Hotline, 792-CITY (2489) was established for residents to report graffiti; residents are asked to call 911 when they witness tagging in progress.

•  Control of chemical etching materials has been added to the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance to strengthen enforcement. Enforcement by DNR inspectors for both spray paints and chemical etching materials continues.

•  Improved relationship has been established between Neighborhood Resources reporting, removal by the contractor, and surveillance by Tucson Police to prevent re-tagging.

•  Police have access to Neighborhood Resources' reporting database and photo catalogue.

•  TPD Operations Division East had a successful pilot project in the Sewell Neighborhood with participation from neighborhood residents and Neighborhood Resources staff.

•  A “hot spot” protocol has been established whereby TPD Division Captains are informed after a removal effort has occurred on sites frequently getting tagged in order for police to do surveillance to prevent a retag.

•  Greater enforcement has resulted in more arrests for graffiti within the City of Tucson .

Arrest statistics as reported by Tucson Police:
9/05-8/06 9/06-8/07

South Division 8 16

West Division 10 16

Midtown Division 5 23

East Division 20 22

Downtown Division 5 13

Total 48 90

Removal 

•  A new removal contractor, Graffiti Protective Coatings, GPC, began removing graffiti in Tucson on September 15, 2006.

•  Removal of graffiti on private property has been expedited through legal recourses with the exception of historic structures, artwork, adobe and straw bale construction and some other special circumstances where contact with the property owner is necessary.

•  GPC removes graffiti reported to them by DNR and pro-actively removes graffiti that it encounters on the major corridors.

•  In the year since GPC began, (Sept. '06 – August '07), 17,260 work orders have been completed across the city.

•  In that same year, 2,565,334 square feet of graffiti has been removed.

•  Beginning July 1, 2007, the DNR Operations Crew consisting of four personnel and a graffiti removal truck has been supplementing the effort by removing graffiti from washes throughout Tucson ; they have removed 88,000 square feet of graffiti.

•  DNR is partnering with Tucson Clean and Beautiful Adopt-a-Wash program to create Adopt-a-Spot where volunteers can designate a spot to keep clear of graffiti.

•  In the coming year volunteer efforts will be strengthened to paint-out and wipe out graffiti.

•  A comprehensive database has been established through City of Tucson IT.

•  GPC has been granted access to retrieve work orders as they are created.

•  Police have access to the reporting database and photo catalogue provided by the contractor.

•  Data fields allow for sorting and reporting by type, location, and removal method.

•  Over fifty community members have been trained and certified to safely remove or paint over graffiti.

•  These certified volunteers have allowed for additional graffiti to be removed in a timely and efficient manner thus providing less incentive for taggers to “re-tag” their neighborhoods.

•  Victims of graffiti vandalism – both private property owners and businesses – now get prevention education, reporting information, and how to get help with removal information on a timely basis thus addressing their graffiti vandalism in a more comprehensive manner.

As this report indicates, the comprehensive approach to the graffiti issue in Tucson, going beyond just removal, has resulted in a more effective and efficient program where results are clearly more visible to not only the affected property owners, but also to the general public as well. As the program continues to evolve, the goal will be to increase its efficiency, diversify the solutions to the graffiti problems and to increase the message to the “tagger” that those acts of vandalism will not be condoned nor tolerated by the community.