A number of cars were hit with racist graffiti in northwest Reno, Nevada on Monday.  The victims of the attack reacted with shock, sadness and anger.

This graffiti was clearly not street art.  This was vandalism intended to cause damage. Orange spray paint was found on car windows, doors, roofs, and hoods. 

Offensive racial language elevated this graffiti attack to one that was motivated by ugly racist prejudice. 

Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover is an ideal tool to reverse graffiti spray paint on cars including windows, doors, roofs, bumpers and hoods.  Simply spray Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover onto the tag and allow a short 30 second to 60 second dwell time.  Use a soft rag or non-scratch sponge to catch any drips and keep graffiti remover on the graffiti spray paint.  As soon as graffiti tags starts to soften, bubble, or run, wipe clean with a dry absorbent rag.  Repeat as necessary until the tag is gone. 
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The spray paint graffiti tag should be easy to clean from the windows.  A razor blade can be used to accelerate the cleaning speed.  Use caution to prevent the graffiti remover from coming into contact with the rubber seals.  Also, resist the natural temptation to scrub.  Elbow grease will likely remove both the graffiti spray paint but also begin to remove the original paint and mar the finish.  Let the graffiti remover do the work and wipe as soon as the graffiti spray paint is broken.  

​Graffiti is a gateway crime. Individuals who start breaking minor laws like graffiti and petty theft often end up committing more serious crimes, especially in communities with high amounts of gang activity and graffiti tagging. Graffiti is the "canary in the coal mine" for criminals to test how effective community policing is at preventing criminality. Additionally, Ggraffiti creates a visually blighted environment which sends the message that that crime tolerated which encourages further crime and disorder and discourages home owners and business owners from reinvesting in their community.

Approximately 80% of graffiti is “graffiti tagging”.  Tagging is essentially the street name of a graffiti tagger and is indented to show off to friends. These tags are often small, single color and include the tagger's street nickname. The bigger and more brazen the graffiti tag, the more street credibility the graffiti tagger gets.  The sooner the graffiti tag is removed, the better.  Ideally graffiti tags should be removed with 24 to 48 hours to discourage further graffiti tags.

Approximately 10% of graffiti is gang related, often designed to claim territority for drug sales and other illegal activities from rival gangs. These tags are often black spray paint, have large symbols, and are located on corner buildings. 

The remaining 10% of graffiti are street art.  Street art is not harmful.  Most street art requires skill and is intended to create visual interest on the street.  Street art often takes the form of stickers or small scale murals.  Street art is is typically not found on sensitive private property and is more likely found on public property such as street signs and semi-public property such as newspaper boxes.  

Graffiti tags and gang-graffiti should be removed as quickly as possible.  Street art does not need to be removed.  Clean City Pro graffiti removers are fast and effective graffiti removal tools that can help speed the removal of graffiti tags and gang-graffiti.  Please visit the graffiti removal product selection guide at www.CleanCityPro.com to find the best graffiti remover for your unique graffiti tag.

What's the difference between Graffiti Tagging and Street Art?

1. Street Art is constructive, Graffiti Tagging is destructive.
2. Street Art adorns the urban landscape, Graffiti Tagging scars it, accelerating urban decay.
3. Street Art is an embrace of the city, Graffiti Tagging is an attack against the city.
4. Street Art stretches your mind, Graffiti Tagging is a slap in your face.
5. Street Art is about the audience, Graffiti Tagging is about the tagger.
6. Street Art says "Have you thought about this?", Graffiti Tagging says "I must be important because I see my name".
7. Street Art was done with a smile, Graffiti Tagging was done with a scowl.
8. Street Art was done with an outstretched hand, Graffiti Tagging was done with an outstretched finger. 
9. Street Art takes skill, Graffiti Tagging takes anger and distain
10. We mourn losing Street Art and celebrate losing Graffiti Tagging. 

Good Street Art is great, good Graffiti Tagging is gone!
 
Wild Flowers are not weeds: Protect Street Art

"Street Art are urban wildflowers.  In a formal Rose Garden, wildflowers are weeds just like the buckthorn, crabgrass, and dandelions.  But in a vibrant, dynamic native garden, wildflowers are different.  They bloom in colorful bursts, attract bees and butterflies.  They require no watering and they don't choke out other native plants.  But the weeds that grow around the wildflowers need to be cleared so that the wildflowers can prosper."
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Do your part to allow Street Art to Thrive
Do your part to keep the streets clean of graffiti tagging so that Street Art can thrive!  The only way to change the perception that all graffiti is bad, is to raise the bar and eliminate the bad graffiti and graffiti tagging.  A single Street Art sticker on the back of a sign can make a strong visual statement.  Graffiti stickers covering a sign drown out Street Art and turns the sign to blight.  

Community volunteers, police officers, firefighters, and park district staff came together in Duluth, MN for a Community Graffiti Action Clean-Up Day to Help eliminate the blight of graffiti and graffiti tagging in the urban center.  

Graffiti Action Days are innovative volunteer graffiti removal events that empower the community to reclaim their neighborhood from the visual blight of graffiti.  They can make a significant and tangible impact on the appearance of a targeted commercial corridor, park or neighborhood plagued by graffiti.  
 
Graffiti Action Days are typically spearheaded by Municipalities, Neighborhood Organizations, Schools, Aldermanic Offices, Chambers of Commerce, or Block Clubs.  

Volunteers can quickly and safely remove hundreds of graffiti tags armed with the highly-innovative, highly-effective, highly-green Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover.  During the two-hour events, volunteers report personally cleaning an estimated 30 to 50 tags.

Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover is highly environmentally-friendly and  therefore very safe to work with. It is fast acting and can completely remove most tags within a couple minutes without impacting the underlying surface.   
   
Because Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover is safe enough to be used by non-professionals, a group of volunteers armed with spray bottles, sponges and buckets of water can effectively remove the majority of the graffiti in a commercial corridor on non-porous surfaces including signs, mailboxes,  newspaper boxes, meter boxes and lamp posts. 

Large graffiti tags on brick, concrete or other porous surfaces require removal with a pressure washer and heavy duty Clean City Pro Blue Label Gel Graffiti Remover.  Alternatively, painting over large graffiti tags is an option for this type of graffiti.

Often graffiti action volunteers will encounter street art while removing graffiti.  It is not necessary to remove street art.  Street art has been demonstrated to improve the urban environment, unlike graffiti tags which blight it.  So what is the difference between Street Art and Graffiti Tagging?  1. Street Art is constructive, Graffiti Tagging is destructive. 2. Street Art adorns the urban landscape, Graffiti Tagging scars it and accelerates urban decay. 3. Street Art is about the audience, Graffiti Tagging is about the tagger.
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Fast and Easy Step-by-step guide for how to Remove Graffiti from Painted Metal Newspaper Box using Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover.

Step 1: Spray Clean City Pro Green Label Graffiti Remover onto graffiti tag

Step 2: Allow short dwell time of 20 to 100 seconds.  Sharpie or permanent marker will break within 15 seconds.  Paint marker will break within 30 to 60 seconds.  Grease pen will break within 2 minutes and agitation will assist the removal as the grease chunks break free.  Spray paint will break within 60 seconds to two minutes.

Step 3: Scrub lightly with scouring pad

Step 4: Rinse clean with water or wet rag.