Downtown Services

• Portland Downtown Services Inc.
• SAFE Overview
• Clean & Safe Services
• Cleaning Request
• Community Court
• Griffiti Removal
• BID map
• Street Musican Partnership
• Downtown Services Directory
• Sidewalk Ambassadors
• Ambassador Bios
• Downtown Retail and Marketing
• Downtown Retail Strategy
• Join the Downtown Retail Council
• Shop Portland
• Dining Guide
• Holiday Lighting Program
• Real Change
• Downtown Market Research
• Pedestrian Counts
• Search Downtown Commercial Listings
• Post a Downtown Commercial Listing
• Central City Committees

Graffiti Removal

Graffiti vandals have long evaded the police by conducting their work under the cover of darkness. Because of Clean & Safe's proficiency at removing graffiti, cleaners were removing the evidence that a crime had been committed. Even when a "tagger" was caught in the act, they were only charged with vandalism for that piece alone. "Taggers" have not been routinely held accountable for previous property damage.

The Portland Business Alliance staff works with Clean & Safe, the Portland Police Bureau, Portland Patrol, Inc., the District Attorney's office and the City Graffiti Program to develop a proactive approach to reducing downtown graffiti. While this proactive approach is helping to reduce graffiti, it remains a challenge. On average, the Alliance's Clean & Safe employees remove approximately 1500 - 2000 graffiti tags each month.

How you can help

Tips for reducing graffiti

• Create an access barrier - vegetation or fencing
• Increase lighting
• Apply protective coating to windows
• Deny access to fire escapes and keep them well lit to deter vandals
• Remove graffiti as soon as possible as research shows that the longer graffiti remains at a location, the chance of reoccurrence rises significantly

Report it