With just 39 days to Super Bowl XLV in North Texas, the City of Dallas is literally turning up the pressure to try and clean up graffiti so thousands of visitors won't see it. Businesses are now pitching in to help, as police try a renewed effort to crack down on taggers.
The city is getting help from local businesses, like Stripco, that temporarily donated a blaster that uses not sand but something you could brush your teeth with: baking soda. “These little soda crystals hit the surface and they shatter and explode and they pop the paint off," said Bill Connelly of Stripco.
Sherwin Williams donated an anti-graffiti sealer and CPS, security surveillance cameras. It's all part of the city's recently-announced effort to wipe away and crack down on graffiti. “We are looking for those people that I would call a serial tagger. These guys that are constantly marking up portions of the city," said assistant Police Chief Tom Lawrence.
But for all the surfaces marred, police filed 25 cases against taggers this year, up from 20 last year. Catching and prosecuting them is hard. However, police say a tougher state law and better cooperation with the D.A. should result in more cases. Samuel Sales, who daily walks through his Oak Cliff neighborhood, hopes so. “It's going to help the neighborhood once you track down the people who are doing it," he said.
Looking clean for Super Bowl visitors is nice but will the effort fizzle after they're gone? City council member, Delia Jasso, claims it won't. “We are certainly looking at this as a long-term program," said Jasso. If it works, everyone will know by just looking around.
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