More than 100 volunteers help remove graffiti throughout Pacific Beach

PACIFIC BEACH Thanks to helpers sacrificing their time and efforts on a Saturday organizers declared the th annual Pacific Beach Town Council-sponsored Graffiti Cleanup Day on May was an overwhelming success Have you noticed a little less graffiti around town questioned town council President Charlie Nieto in a newsletter that published after the event It s no coincidence it s the development of an incredible public effort Last weekend more than supporters came together and set a new record by removing more than graffiti tags stickers and other vandalism across Pacific Beach Your advocacy fuels our mission to make Pacific Beach a cleaner safer and more connected place to live Graffiti Busters core company member Jim Menders was in charge of orienting helpers instructing them on eradicating ubiquitous tags and stickers before sending them out on their mission to cleanse designated areas He explained the use of graffiti-eradication system now being used in an app employing QR codes pinpointing graffiti locations for participants All they app originators had to do when they were walking around the society doing surveys was take a picture of the graffiti and the picture would be uploaded to a server Menders announced They would then collect all these reports then make a map out of them It s a lot like GetItDone only it belongs to us Menders evidenced and demonstrated products and tools to trainees that are used to remove various types of graffiti tags and stickers If you find yourself looking at something too big to handle just use GetItDone to call it in he counseled Steve and Robin Sutlief were two helpers who participated in this year s Graffiti Cleanup Scheduled to clean up tags surrounding Pacific Beach Library at Cass St the pair came prepared with step ladders to reach tags in high places scattered on signs and poles It soon became clear that accompanying them in finding tags and stickers was not going to be complex One such prominent tag defaced a mailbox directly in front of the library We re removing tags and painting but only on inhabitants property Robin Sutlief explained an inquiring bystander as she stood atop a ladder meticulously scraping a sticker off a street sign Specific are easy she noted Several are just hard Jim Menders of Pacific Beach Town Council trains graffiti-eradication contributors Steve and Robin Sutlief before they went out on May to remove tags around the Pacific Beach Library Photo by Dave Schwab Times of San Diego Why volunteer to be graffiti busters This is our public answered Robin Sutlief adding I do all the beach cleanups This is my second year doing this But the beach cleanups I ve been doing beach cleanups for about five years This is Steven s first time doing graffiti Does it make you feel good It does We want a clean San Diego Robin Sutlief mentioned adding This is supposed to be America s Finest City And people on Next Door social media are saying What happened to America s Finest City There s trash defecation they re closing our bathrooms If we can t rely on our inhabitants services then maybe you need to step up and say It s on us You never mistake another place for PB I would hate to see that change pointed out Steve Sutlief about part of his motivation for being a neighborhood graffiti buster Looking at his map app looking for the next tag to be eradicated Steve Sutlief noted There are five things marked Not on this corner though Discussing how to discourage graffiti tagging Steve Sutlief suggested something simple and direct Give them something else to focus on he concluded Teaching people kindness and tolerance in school was Robin Sutlief s proposed cure to the dilemma The annual cleanup in May is the unofficial start of summer Nieto pointed out As summer now kicks off PBTC is shifting into high gear with chosen of our largest part beloved events including Concerts on the Green the PB Car Show and PAESAN Stay tuned for more updates coming your way soon he wrote A heartfelt thank you also goes out to the -plus society groups elected offices and City departments that helped make this year s Region Expo a resounding success continued Nieto We re especially grateful to Pacific Beach Elementary School for their partnership in hosting the event and for their continued commitment to our neighborhood