They should catch these losers one at a time, and tattoo the equivalent of a scarlet letter on their foreheads.

The service for graffiti removal is pretty good, all things considered. I appreciate the city having the website and phone number available to reach out and pin point where the latest damage has emerged and send the crews out to wipe away the cock-roach signatures.  Thanks for the easy link!

Graffiti and other forms of vandalism by youths today are the boils of our society coming to the surface over the many failures to engage and occupy young people by parents, government, education and business. We have to find the collective will to employ, educate and stimulate our young people who are increasingly becoming the discards of a shrinking economic deck. 

What I really fear is that we are transforming our society into a giant penal colony of those we have failed to provide any meaningful work for, or  imprisoned all those who under stress and duress resorted to illegal substances for relief and escape.

Prisons are now the fertile grounds of gang growth, and the viral spread of violent tribes filled with angry men and women who feel completely cut out of the American dream. There are way too many low-level security prisoners trapped in the world of incarceration being fed a steady diet of hate inside these fortresses. I do not feel that safe today knowing that I am now surrounded in this county by giant concrete structures of very desperate and very violent people housed with a lot of firepower.

What do we do to defuse this growing time bomb?

How about an article / community drive / something of the sort? I'd love to be part of a group of people who actively clean off grafitti. I hate it. However, I don't want to be on my own or in a small group with a can of paint and a brush painting over it - that feels unsafe. What options do people who feel like me have for pitching in to help clean the community?

( I realize that the true answer lies in adressing the root, not the flowers. But all I know how to do is prune those flowers! )

If somebody could invent some sort of coating that could be applied to surfaces, that the spray paint wouldn't stick to, or that would render it easily hosed off, they'd make a fortune!  I wonder if DuPont or one of the other chemical companies has tried this, or is working on it?