DENVER (KDVR) — Adam Meltzer’s daily commute to and from work is about 4.5 miles on the Cherry Creek bike trail. But he said the graffiti on the walls, signs, murals and even rocks have started to make the path an eyesore.
“It’s everywhere and pretty much out of control at this point,” Meltzer said.
Meltzer said he’s called the City of Denver helpline 311 multiple times over the last few months to get the graffiti covered and cleaned up, but he said he’s not seeing any progress.
“The city has done a great job but in the last year or so it’s been difficult to get them to deal with graffiti. I don’t know why,” Meltzer said.
FOX31 met him off 12th Avenue and Speer Boulevard on the trail where a mural, by the Urban Arts Fund, was covered with multiple layers and types of graffiti.
“It just feels really crappy that someone doesn’t care and paints over the mural, and they obviously don’t care for our city,” Meltzer said. He also said he feels like the graffiti makes the city of Denver look ugly.
“We don’t want to see your initials on our murals and on our walls,” Meltzer said.
Denver responds to graffiti complaints on Cherry Creek trail
FOX31 and Channel 2 reached out to the city, which said Denver Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure tackle the spray paint cleanup.
Nancy Kuhn with DOTI originally passed along this statement:
When someone calls 311 with a complaint about graffiti, the complaint is forwarded to DPR or DOTI, depending on the location. If it’s a parks location and they receive the complaint (this would include the Cherry Creek Trail), a parks maintenance team will respond and remove the graffiti. Both DPR and DOTI encourage people to call in graffiti, so that our teams can address it as quickly as possible. People can report it by calling 311 or submitting a request online through www.pocketgov.com.
FOX31 told Kuhn Meltzer has called 311 several times complaining about the graffiti and some of it has been on walls for 4-7 months.
Kuhn asked for exact locations and copied Parks and Recreation into the email chain. Cynthia Karvaski, with DPR, responded: “I will follow-up with our trails team first thing tomorrow and get back with you. Thank you for the details on the locations.”