by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Though random spots of graffiti pop up in downtown every few weeks, representatives from Downtown Vision, Inc. say it’s far from being out of control.
“I’ve spoken with colleagues of mine in other cities and I can tell you that it’s not a big problem here,” said Joe Snowberger, a spokesperson for DVI. “We’ve had some acute instances and unfortunately it’s something that we’re always going to see from time to time. The best thing we can do is not draw any attention to it and take care of it quickly. You don’t want it to linger because that’s what the tagger wants.”
Snowberger added there isn’t much a business can do to discourage graffiti.
“You can talk about things like lighting,” he said, “but it’s really more about the motivation of the tagger. Through the sheriff’s office we’ll hopefully catch them if we can. These people are damaging property and they need to understand that.”
Snowberger, who heads DVI’s Ambassador program, said the group does its best to identify defaced property as early as possible and notify property owners of the damage.
“When we see it, we’ll let them know where it is,” said Snowberger. “In some cases the building or property is owned by someone in another city or state, but with their permission, we’ll clean it or paint over it for them.”
DVI keeps a cleaning agent at their offices that removes certain types of graffiti.
“We’re happy to help in any way, but the property owners and the City has been very receptive to cleaning it up when it happens,” said Snowberger, who said graffiti remains a relatively new issue locally. “They want to keep downtown looking attractive just like we all do.”