Neighbors Organized To Abolish Graffiti (NoTAG)

NoTAG's History

NoTAG is a volunteer group of Hedrick Acres residents which formed three years ago and began removing graffiti regularly in the neighborhood on May 7, 2006. Initially, four or five regular volunteers went out once a week and patrolled the entire neighborhood, removing what they could and calling the rest into the city for professional removal.
NoTAG Stats (click to enlarge) Currently there is one active volunteer, with two alternates on call as substitutes when needed.

In January of 2007, NoTAG began a partnership with the city's Department of Neighborhood Resources to share graffiti removal tips and techniques with other neighborhoods. To date, NoTAG has participated in six training workshops organized by DNR and has spoken at 12 neighborhood association meetings, in addition to working on two major graffiti cleanup projects in other neighborhoods under the auspices of the United Way's "Days of Caring" program.

NoTAG can always use more volunteers and is willing to provide training to anyone interested in learning graffiti removal techniques. Through experience, NoTAG members have learned the best way to work on various surfaces and types of tags to remove graffiti as non-destructively as possible. If you want to remove graffiti near your house, but don't want to officially join NoTAG, please do still contact us for training, as some signs and surfaces can be damaged by improper removal attempts. Drop us a line in the Contact Us section of this site!

So far, over 4,000 tags have been removed from the Hedrick Acres Neighborhood. The amount of graffiti has essentially tripled since NoTAG began its work (see chart). With the increase in graffiti, NoTAG is probably using $8-10 worth of materials every week. The Neighborhood Association has provided reimbursement for some of those materials, and some residents have generously donated money specifically for graffiti removal. Heartfelt thanks go out to all who support NoTAG's efforts!