I met a friend for lunch today at NeoMonde off of Hillsborough Street and Method Road. For some reason, probably its proximity to The University, the West Raleigh area has a bad problem with graffiti. As I exited the Beltline, I saw a road sign had been marked by some stupid gang. Stuff like just makes the place look trashy.
Luckily, the City of Raleigh has gotten serious about graffiti, setting up a team to deal with it. By contacting the graffiti team citizens can help clean up their neighborhoods.
I had plugged their number (831-6001) into my cellphone, so I decided to try it out. After one ring, a cheerful voice answered “City of Raleigh graffiti hotline.”
Pretty cool. I then gave her the location of the graffiti and she told me a crew would be sent out.
If more people report the graffiti they find, perhaps the taggers will move on. It certainly isn’t worth painting something if you know that it could be gone a day later. I’m hoping that by cleaning up the city, people can take more pride in where they live.