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Graffiti can be an art form, but in Northeast, it’s mostly the careless scrawls of area gangs.
Whether painted on a commercial building or residence, graffiti adds to the blight of a neighborhood and the Indian Mound Neighborhood is ready to take action.
Indian Mound Neighborhood Association recently received a $1,200 Neighborhood Self Help Fund grant from United Way to purchase a sprayer, chemicals and hose to remove graffiti in the neighborhood.
“It’s been shown time and time again if graffiti is removed shortly after it’s put on, they may do it again, and if we remove it again quickly, they’ll stop because they know the minute it goes up we’ll take it down,” Indian Mound Neighborhood Association President David Remley said.
Asked how the graffiti removal works, Remley said a chemical is sprayed onto the graffiti, which breaks down the paint. Once the chemical is dry, a pressure hose is used to remove the image.
“It’s just an eyesore,” Remley said of graffiti. “It doesn’t look good. Most of these little gang members aren’t particularly artistic.”
Remley said Indian Mound resident Richard Jones will be in charge of removing graffiti. Residents are encouraged to report graffiti for Jones to remove on commercial and residential buildings. The goal is to remove graffiti within seven days, Remley said. Graffiti can’t be removed on private property without the owner’s permission, he stressed.
“We’ll do it for free initially. Then, we may charge a little bit later on for the commercial buildings,” Remley said. “The chemicals are very expensive. It’s $50 a gallon and a gallon goes pretty fast.”
Indian Mound is hoping to later receive a grant for the purchase of chemicals.
To report area graffiti, e-mail David Remley at dremley@mac.com.
Above, Rick Jones helps clean a building of graffiti on the northwest corner of St. John and Oakley. David Remley
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