Graffiti spikes when the kids are stressed: the start of school, exams around Christmas and at the end of the school year in June. These three creative examples appeared over the Memorial Day weekend. The “Wolf” paw print on the creek sign was especially challenging to get off because we needed to remove the yellow without destroying the underlying custom-mileage sign. Aaron, from Santa Rosa Public Works, used Mason Master for that. The other two products, he said, would “take it down to bare metal.”

“PlayboySpeedy” tagged the bridge over Piner Creek, overwriting the ugly gray patch that Public Works put up a few years ago to cover some previous graffiti. This was my opportunity to “air-brush” the whole thing with three different colors of paint over two days.

“RiderThugz” on the pole got color suppression from me with gray primer and the following day, yellow primer, but it looked bad. Aaron polished it with yellow gloss paint. He and I talked for about an hour about his frustration with graffiti and his work to clean up after homeless encampment relocation. I wish he could tune in to the good he is doing. I was happy to learn that he wasn’t the only one on the job — there is a van with more equipment including a pressure washer.