Why do officials paint over graffiti when all that does is make the wall clean and ready for more? Isn this an enormous waste of time and money?
Schmoo: This is a question that needs to be asked of the officials. To a graffiti writer, a blank wall in the city represents many more bad things than any writing on it could. Blank walls are ugly and repressive. I think this is one of the reasons that graffiti is so much more prevalant in the inner city than in the suburbs or rural areas. Kairos: It depends. If the painting over is done repeatedly and only a day or two after the graffiti went up, it tends to drive writers away. Writers would rather have a spot that has a good payback for their risk, money and time. On the other hand, if the painting over is sporadic and spaced-out, writers will not be deterred. Celtic: They do it so as to keep the public happy. Many mayors think that by doing this they are cleaning up the town. Looks real good on TV to see a truck painting over graffiti but its just a PR stunt. The streets aren’t any safer because the walls are clean, it just looks that way.
