The Graffiti Abatement (GA) Program is funded to abate graffiti from small businesses, non-profit organizations, individual property owners, and small apartment and condominium buildings. The data illustrates the total square footage of graffiti abated per fiscal year quarter, starting in the first quarter of FY 23/24. In the middle of FY 22/23 the GA Program switched over to a new reporting and tracking system and the data from that period is flawed. Additionally, an increase or decrease of the amount of graffiti being abated is not directly indicative of the amount of new graffiti in the City of Portland. Different factors that impact this metric are, but not limited to; the weather (snow, ice, rain and extreme temperatures impact graffiti abatement), the number of reports being submitted, and an amendment to our contracts allowing for greater flexibility to abate graffiti above 8ft from the ground level that went into effect in the second quarter of FY 23/24.

You will see a large decrease in the total of graffiti abated from quarter 1 and quarter 2 of FY23/24, this corresponds with the hiring of a Program Manager at the end of FY 22/23 and the clearing out of a backlog of graffiti reports.  From quarter 2 onward, there is a steady increase in the square footage of graffiti abated each quarter. This is indicative of the hiring of a program manager, taking the Graffiti Abatement Program from one dedicated staff member to two dedicated staff members overseeing the Program. 

Additionally, there was a large jump in the total square footage of graffiti abated in Q4 of FY 24/25. First, there tends to be an increase in graffiti abated in Q4 of the fiscal year. This is due to a combination of improving weather which allows for more graffiti abatement (painting over and pressure washing graffiti is weather dependent), more people being outside and submitting graffiti reports, and proactive graffiti cleaning in preparation for the Rose Festival and other public events. Additionally, in Q4 of FY 24/25, the Graffiti Abatement Program was able to address some larger, long-standing graffiti hotspots. 

The Graffiti Abatement Program tracks all graffiti reports through the Graffiti Reporting Portal and once we have a signed waiver form from the property or business owner, we send the reports that qualify for the Program for abatement to our contractors to address. In closing the graffiti report as resolved, the contractors submit before and after photos and the total square footage of the abated graffiti. For this metric, we combined the total amount of square footage of graffiti abated by our contractors per each quarter of the fiscal year.

Here is more information about the Graffiti Abatement Program. Here is how you can directly report graffiti.