Salt Lake City, Utah:  Felony and misdeameanor charges have been filed against five graffiti taggers in Salt Lake City, aged 20 to 23.  These taggers have cost the city thousands of dollars in graffiti abatement costs.  Some large scale roof graffiti cost and graffiti on historic buildings exceeded $25k. 

A determined effort by the police department and gang unit lead to the arrest of the taggers.  Many others are being pursued.  In the meantime, the arrests and charges should make taggers think twice before tagging again.

In Port Angeles, Washington, Richard Schneider, after retiring from the National Park Service, decided to take matters into his own hands.  He has removed over 70 graffiti tags over the past few months.  He is highly motivated to improve this city and community by eliminating graffiti blight.  He attempts to remove graffiti tags as quickly as possible to discourage them from reoccurring.  By removing the tags quickly, the hope is that the taggers move on to areas less visible to the community or stop all together. 

Santa Barbara, California - After a four month investigation and good of detective work, Santa Barbara law enforcement were able to identify and arrest a graffiti tagger.  He has been sentanced to 180 days in jail for his graffiti damage.  Success is due to the detective assigned to the investigation who had experience with gang related issues.

More at Santa Barbara Independent

Chicag, Illinois - Five additional graffiti abatement officers were hired by the City of Chicago's Graffiti Blasters to combat graffiti.  An additional 7,400 tags have been removed since the hiring of the new crew.  Graffiti Blaster was started in 1993 by Mayor Daley to address the graffiti problem.

More at ABC7 News Chicago

Tucson, Arizona - Mario Figueroa is a man on a mission.  This 62-year old spends his time cleaning up graffiti from his Tucson neighborhood.  The City of Tucson spends approximately $750,000 abating graffiti.  

Tucson Officer Stephanie Brown estimates that most of the taggers are 14 or 15 years old.  Spray paint is readily available depite a Tucson city ordinance which prohibits spray paint to minors, 

According to Tucson City Spokesman Michael Graham says, "When you're spending three-quarters of a million dollars to eradicate graffiti, I'd say we have a pretty big problem out there."

 "That's money that, from the general fund, that could have been used to improve city parks, or other city infrastructure. instead, that's going for graffiti abatement."

More at News 4 Tucson