Graffiti is a sign of government's failure to tend to basic housekeeping

"Graffiti delivers a message. It's a signal to other taggers; a deadly warning to rival gangs; a commentary on the kind of society in which youth earn respect from one another by vandalizing property.

The markings also tell visitors that a neighborhood is not cared for by the people who live there or the city workers who serve it. They are a statement about a city government's failure to tend to basic housekeeping. By the same token, quick removal of the scrawls puts residents and visitors on notice that the community is a place worth defending.

Amid the latest in a succession of graffiti spikes, Los Angeles residents have increasingly responded as soon as tagging appears by calling the city at 311 and reporting it. It takes too long for contractors to remove it -- three-to-five working days, long enough for taggers to broadcast their messages and take credit for their perverse handiwork. But residents at least have a safe way to respond." - Los Angeles Times