New York City is about to get some new anti-graffiti laws that aim to keep our neighborhoods beautiful by "imposing fines against the owners of certain property who fail to remove graffiti from their premises".

I live on a two block stretch of 4th St. in Brooklyn between Smith St. and the Gowannus Canal. The street contains a functional mix of residential and commercial buildings. Graffiti is a problem- especially on the commercial buildings- but the building owners have come up with a number of interesting solutions to keep their buildings clean.

My favorite solution is graffiti insurance. The building at the end of my block (4th St. and Bond) has this protection. The building always has fresh paint- and any new graffiti is painted over in a day or two. This building always looks nice. Insurance doesn't prevent the problem- but it does guarantee that the graffiti will be quickly removed or covered up by professionals.


Back of Graffiti-Insured Building on 4th St. and Bond


Sign on side of insured building at 3rd St and Bond

The most popular solution seems to be painting over the graffiti. This is also the ugliest solution. I would rather look at the graffiti.


Poorly Painted-Over graffiti on 4th St. and Hoyt


Graffiti-Covered building right across the street

Surrounding the entire property with a big fence appears to be the most effective solution in my neighborhood.


Graffiti-free building protected by fence at 4th St and Hoyt