Within days of the Boston Marathon Bombing, community residents have been shocked and outraged by the appearance of a series of swastikas graffiti tags on church building.

More at Boston Globe 

A twelve year old was arrested for causing over $15,000 of damage in Murrieta, CA.

More at The Press Enterprise

Buffalo, New York - A prolific tagger has been sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service and thousands of dollars for hundreds of graffiti tags.

“You had the audacity to deface and paint and dirty up our city,” Judge DiTullio told him. “Now, you will clean up your mess and your graffiti under the watchful eye of city officials, the Probation Department and this court. I would guess, Mr. Whitefield, that leaning up your mess will be a lot harder than creating it.  It’s a lot harder to take off paint than slap it on.”

More at The Buffalo News

Fascinating article which explores murals, tagging, and the increasing frequency of murals as targets of tagging.  Published by the Phoenix Newtime and written by Claire Lawton.

"Taggers have realized that their tags stayed up longer on murals because the building owners and the commissioners of those murals can't afford to bring back the original artist to repair the mural," Greg Esser says. "So tagging on a mural has become code for longevity."

Toledo, Ohio - The owner of a 50 year old flag business, located in an historic fire station, wants justice. She wants the teenager arrested for tagging her building and six others buildings in the commercial corridor, to pay retribution by scrubbing the spray painted graffiti off the 86 year old historicbrick facade.

Wendy Beallas, the owner of Flags Sales and Repairs, said if convicted, “I want him to be responsible and accountable for himself and clean it up,” she said. “This was very destructive. I want him to clean it, not just my building, but all the buildings.”

“I am very disappointed,” she said, “It is just unbelievable and senseless to me.”

More detail at the Toledo Blade

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is fed up with the graffiti that detracts from the vibrancy of Toronto’s neighborhoods. To help launch the Clean Toronto Together campaign to eradicate graffiti,  the Mayor rolled up his sleeves and working with volunteers to remove a graffiti tags. 

“Everybody’s had enough of the graffiti,” Ford said. “We’re fighting back.”

Ford said the city removed 8,000 square metres of graffiti in 2012 and he hopes to improve on that record this year

More detail at The Toronto Star.

Success.  The wall has now been transformed into a great mural.  Check out the photos at National Post Toronto

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island – Legislation in the Rhode Island State Senate proposes to make graffiti a felony. 

According to bill’s sponsor, Senate Majority Whip Maryellen Goodwin, “Graffiti is a serious crime that causes damage to property and costs owners hundreds or thousands of dollars to repair. Often it can’t really be fully repaired at all.  But worse, it makes neighborhoods look run-down and uncared for, sending a message to others that it won’t matter if they decide to add more graffiti, litter or blight to the area. Graffiti has a significant indirect effect on the quality of life in addition to the direct physical damage it causes, so it really should be handled seriously.” 

The legislation would make graffiti a felony where there was more than $1,000 of damage.  Repeat offenders would be potentially subject to $1,000 fine, 200 hours of community service, and up to a year in jail. 
 
The legislation would allow the court to order convicted graffiti tagger to pay for the full cost of the damage. 

The guardians of convicted minors could be held responsible for up to $1,000 of restitution for damages. 

“Graffiti shouldn’t be treated lightly. It’s a genuine crime with real victims and high costs. It robs neighborhoods of their quality of life, and those who commit that vandalism should be held responsible for their actions,” said Senator Goodwin. 

More at WPRI.com.

SAN JOSE, California – In 2011, a city-run graffiti removal program was outsourced to a private contractor.  The move has been mostly praised by city leaders and community members.  
 
As graffiti has been more quickly and effectively removed from the neighborhoods, the graffiti taggers have shifted their targets to freeways and rail bridges where reaction time from Caltrans and Union Pacific is slower. The result is that graffiti tags remain for extended period of time in high visibility locations.

Total number of graffiti tags remains constant at 3,600 but the incidents within the neighborhoods has decreased.  City officials credit quick response times, triaging graffiti incidents, and matching over paint to background color. 

City officials say that total square footage of graffiti is down by approximately 25% since the previous year.

City officials reported that 87 percent of reported graffiti is cleaned up within 24 hours and 96 percent within 48 hours.
 
A smartphone application allows residents to report graffiti and then is emailed a response once the tag has been removed, showing the before and after photos.  High satisfaction rates are reported from residents who have used the system.

Link to Mercury News for more details. 

Kristian Holmes, age 32, was found guilty by a London jury on 38 counts of criminal damage.  Total damage caused by his graffiti between 2003 and 2010 was estimated at £250,000.  He frequently targeted trains and train stations.

More detail at Bexley Times.

With the hope of reducing the amount of graffiti tagging, the City of West Dallas has designated a “free wall” for graffiti artists. Located on an abandoned warehouse, this sanctioned graffiti wall is the first of seven walls planned to be designated throughout the city over the next few years.
 
Assistant Chief Randall Blankenbaker said, “We hope you will not only display your talents here, but make your influence on
younger artists to do this in a way that is legal.”

The City currently receives approximately 60 graffiti reports per month.  Only time will tell if this Graffiti Free Wall experiment will increase or decrease the total amount of tagging.  

More detail at Dallas Morning News.