Oregon money vs Taggers: Is $20M being spent wisely?
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — During the 2024 Oregon legislative session, state leaders allocated $20 million to clean up graffiti and trash. But some leaders are now worried the taxpayers money is not being used wisely.
“We know that taggers tend to do more tagging when their tags stay,” said Rep. Travis Nelson (D-Portland.) “I was very concerned with how we were managing that and what we were doing to prevent people who are tagging from doing the tagging.”
Oregon school superintendents warn of ‘education funding crisis’
He added he was “very supportive of the $20 million allocation initially. but after hearing from ODOT and the city of Portland, I became concerned that not enough was being done on the prevention end.”
That $20 million went to the Oregon Department of Transportation, who hired subcontractors to tackle problem areas.
“ODOT was given the money and ODOT is who I would expect to be held accountable for ensuring that our highways are clean and trash free,” Nelson said.
One company, Portland Graffiti Removal, got $4 million to remove the graffiti. Owner Robert Barrie said he and his workers are playing catchup after a lapse in funding from the state.
“We’re dealing now with basically a year’s worth of graffiti on the freeways to try to get court back up to where we were in 2022 and 2023 to where we could stay on top of it on a daily basis,” Barrie told KOIN 6 News.
He also said this new contract allows his team to work weekends and has his crews out for an average of seven hours a day, seven days a week.
“Having the funding to stay on top of it is much better than, I think, much better than throwing a whole bunch of money at it at one time,” Barrie said.
As for prevention, ODOT told state leaders they’re looking into synthetic ivy and cameras to aid in PPB’s efforts to track the taggers.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KOIN.com.
