Resident:
Gloria Melchor, South Oklahoma City
Context: Melchor, associate librarian at Capitol Hill Library, sees the library as a safe haven for the community, especially for children. The graffiti scrawled at times on the library’s outside walls, as well as on overpasses, streets signs and other buildings in the area, represents a threat to that sense of safety, because of the connotation of gangs. Melchor thinks the city should do more to clean up tagging, which also mars the progress of beautification and redevelopment efforts.
Response:
Eric Wenger, Department of Public Works Director
Context: Wenger said Oklahoma City has a yearly budget of $120,000 to remove graffiti and cleans up about 500,000 square feet of graffiti a year. In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, there were 975 work orders for graffiti cleanup, down from nearly 1,400 work orders in 2012-2013.
A Deeper Look:
Battling Graffiti
This map tracks the locations of graffiti reported to the city in 2014. The heaviest concentration is in south Oklahoma City, although numerous reports also came from central and western areas. Click on a dot to see more details.
Source: Oklahoma City Action Center.
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