It wasn't supposed to be an audit.
We started the morning at the corner of Sanford and Barton — pulling dead plants out of the winter planters at the bus stop, waiting on a friend, doing the quiet work that kicks off every season. If you know that corner, you know the spot: Busy Bee on one side, the pizza place next door doing what it does. It's a corner that's always got something going on.
And as we stood there, we just... looked up.
We started walking east on Barton and we couldn't stop seeing it. Graffiti on roll-up doors. Tags on the sides of buildings that face the alley. Markers on transit shelters, paint on fences, layers on surfaces that had been hit and half-painted-over and hit again. So we did what made sense: we adapted our own internal reporting software — the same tool we use to track community issues — and we started logging.
By the time we were done walking the BIA footprint, we had 66 entries. In 1.25 miles. That's one graffiti incident roughly every hundred feet.
This season, I'm committing to 10 hours on the street every week. Once our supplies are stocked and the work is rolling, the goal is simple: get that number to zero. Not managed. Not reduced. Zero.
To every business and property owner on Barton Village — if your building is on our list, we're coming to you. Not to point fingers, not to make noise about it. We're putting together a plan and we want to reach out to each of you directly. Let's work together. A clean storefront says someone is home here. We want every block on Barton to say that.
If you're wondering whether your property made the list, don't wait on us — reach out. The fastest way to get a response is through our Instagram; send us a DM and we can even get the photos sorted right there in the thread. Or use the contact page on this site. Either way, we'll get back to you.
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