Graffiti was scrawled on a wall at the 99 Cents store on Fairfax Avenue. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Graffiti has been a problem across Los Angeles for decades, seemingly popping up as soon as it is painted over. And while vandalism has been a longstanding issue, people from different parts of the city who clean and remove it agree that graffiti has become a bigger problem than ever during the past six months.

“It’s everywhere,” said Sharyn Romano, director of the Hollywood Beautification Team, also known as the Los Angeles Beautification Team, which is contracted by the city to remove graffiti in Hollywood and the surrounding area. “Over time, there are periods when graffiti goes up and goes down. Sometimes it’s indicative of an increase in crime – graffiti is vandalism – but for whatever reason, we have been seeing a lot of it. We’ve been sending out 30-plus crews a week to cover it up.”

Graffiti vandalism can be seen along major corridors throughout the area, including Hollywood, Sunset, Beverly and Wilshire boulevards, Fairfax and La Brea avenues, and Vine Street in Hollywood. The city contracts with community-based nonprofits in different communities throughout Los Angeles to provide graffiti abatement services. The nonprofits respond to requests for removal made to the city’s 311 system. Based on where the graffiti is located, the appropriate non-profit is dispatched to remove it.

Romano said her group responds to all requests to the city’s 311 system for graffiti removal within the Hollywood area, and crews actively drive around looking for graffiti to paint over. Many times, graffiti is on private property where businesses have closed and buildings are vacant while going through redevelopment. In those cases, Romano said the team has to get a release of liability from a property owner, often making it difficult to remove the graffiti in a timely manner. The goal is to paint it in under 72 hours from receiving a report, but that is not always possible.

“People take over properties that are going to be developed and you have properties that are in disarray,” Romano added. “The system needs to work better.”

Crews from the Los Angeles Beautification Team clean up graffiti when it is reported, and also drive around looking for graffiti to cover. (photo by Karen Villalpando)

Nick Barnes-Batista, a spokesman from Los Angeles City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, 13th District, said the council district office takes graffiti removal very seriously. Residents and property owners are encouraged to call 311 to request graffiti removal at a specific site and can follow up with the councilman’s office if necessary at (213)473-7013. In addition to graffiti abatement services offered by the city through 311, the 13th Council District office contracts with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps for graffiti abatement, he said.

Robert Skillman, senior director of conservation programs for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, said crews from his organization are part of a patchwork that addresses graffiti vandalism citywide.

“Over the last six months, we have seen an uptick in 311 requests. We close out 30 to 60 requests a day,” Skillman said. “There are a lot of organizations that do it, each operating independently. L.A. Conservation Corps has been doing for almost 20 years.”

Private entities also oversee graffiti abatement including business improvement districts, which assess property owners to pay for projects to improve quality of life in neighborhoods.

“There’s been a huge increase of graffiti, all over the place,” said Dianna Eisenberg, director of the Hollywood Media District Business Improvement District. “There been a huge increase in vandalism. Nobody knows why. Last month, there were 198 instances of graffiti removed [within the BID].”

Leo Daube, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, 5th District, also encouraged people to call 311 to report graffiti or the district field office in the Miracle Mile at (323)866-1828.

“We have the Office of Beautification in Public Works, and they respond to graffiti,” Daube said. “If anyone sees graffiti, they can call our office or call 311.”

Lt. Mark Ro, with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division, said the police department investigates vandalism and makes arrests when people are caught in the act or identified later. He acknowledged that he has seen more graffiti recently and the city does what it can to remove it, based on resources that are available. Ro said graffiti impacts neighborhoods and makes them more susceptible to crime. He added that the graffiti he has been seeing recently appears to be from tagger crews as opposed to gangs.

“I believe in the broken window theory. If we don’t keep neighborhoods clean, it acts as a gateway to more serious crime,” Ro said. “We try to monitor it. There is non-gang graffiti all over the place and we do our best to call it in so it gets removed.”

Romano said she is worried that graffiti will be an even bigger problem in the future. With the city facing potential shortfalls and cuts in the 2024-25 budget, organizations that remove graffiti may soon have less funds to complete an even greater workload.

“We are looking at a 9% cut which means a decrease in staff,” Romano added. “We have been doing this for 32 years, it’s why we started. It’s a challenge. We are going to have to look at what we are going to do.”