San Diego City Wire

The City of Escondido announced that they have developed a new way to remove unsightly graffiti from the city’s walls and buildings. 

The city has combined a number of tools to help citizens report the presence of graffiti, which then allows employees to head straight to the place where the graffiti is located. 

“We knew that we needed community engagement. We needed help,” said Rob Van De Hey, Deputy City Manager and Director of Information Systems for Escondido. “Through the Report It! app, citizens can report the location of a graffiti tag, upload pictures of the issue, and provide a description of the issue. Then we can leverage the power of data and technology to create efficiencies.”

Through the use of technology, the city’s Director of Public Works, Joe Goulart, uses a dashboard to see heat maps of where graffiti is taking place. 

“Without technology, we’re working blind, but when we’re able to capture so much data, we are able to make better decisions and create huge efficiencies in the workflow process,” Goulart wrote.

One of the clear benefits of Report It! which is the app that citizens can use to submit locations of graffiti, is that it is paper-free and translates to almost instantaneous work orders for crew members to receive on their phones. 

Whoever is the closest to the graffiti can jump on the work order and begin to handle the removal of it. 

In 2019, the city of Escondido was able to remove 36,424 graffiti tags in an incredibly short period of time after receiving the work orders. 

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Jerry Dunaway, Senior Management Technician, said. “I think it’s astonishing. When we were using paper, a worker would average about ten work orders a day. Now, each guy is doing about twenty-five.”

While graffiti is an eyesore, the city of Escondido is also concerned about its presence as it is used by gang members to communicate with one another. 

More quick removal means less risk of criminal activity, the Chief of Police, Ed Varso, said.