ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Graffiti pops up around Albuquerque overnight, it’s a never ending problem that keeps the solid waste department busy. For a few years, there appeared to be a dip in the number of graffiti site clean ups.
The job of a graffiti tech is never really over, but with a quick spray of a paint gun some of the graffiti disappears. “We get on average from anywhere from 130 to 150 calls a day,” said Jason, graffiti supervisor for the City of Albuquerque.
As the graffiti supervisor, Jason is in charge of around 18 techs who are out cleaning walls seven days a week. “We get a wide range of graffiti all the way throughout the city,” said Jason.
In 2020, the city told us the grafitti seemed to be improving saying that in 2019 they only responded to 37,000 reports as opposed to 60,000 in 2018 but it appears those numbers could climb again.
In 2021, the team of techs responded to nearly 50,000 sites and last year they say they cleaned up 40,000 sites, only 11,000 of those responses came from 311 calls. “If they do not come from 311 our techs that are out on the street they do end up finding them on their own and taking care of them,” said Jason.
The culprits even taking things to new heights making their way up rooftops. So far this year, the graffiti team has responded to a little over 3,000 separate graffiti sites.
