Downtown Tagging

There is a lot of speculation over how a SCAD student died in Congress Lane Monday morning. In Tuesday morning's Savannah Morning News some wonder if Steen fell trying to "tag" or spray paint a very hard to reach part of a building. Accomplishing that can be a status symbol among those who graffiti or "tag" buildings.

Graffiti is a common complaint in Savannah. Most reports come from citizens and business owners - who find it on their walls, their signs and their trash cans. There have been more than 300 complaints so far this year...a big cost to the property owner and the community. Sgt. William Gill says, “So far this year, we've spent over 7-thousand dollars in cleaning up graffiti and that's just to get it off, usually after that the homeowner or the store owners, they'll have to come in and put more money into it, so it's a terrible nuisance.” Even after the paint is removed - an eyesore remains that has to be repaired. Sgt. William Gill oversees the Savannah Impact Program's group in charge of removing graffiti - he says the lanes downtown are the source of the majority of the complaints, “Broughton Lane, Bay Lane, Congress Lane - it's an area that's travelled a lot by these taggers - so they tag the lanes a lot, plus, it's kinda hidden from everything, so they can go in there at night and tag it without getting caught.”

In fact, Congress Lane, where SCAD student Tyler Steen was found dead Monday morning was filled with graffiti on Tuesday - some of it fresh. Speculation that Steen may have been climbing on a metal beam in an effort to tag a hard to reach part of the buildings it's connected to would fit in with the "tagging" lifestyle. “Places that are up high, that a lot of people are going to see, they get their notoriety from that you know, the more people see it, the better off the tags.”

If you see graffiti in your neighborhood and would like it removed, call the city's 3-1-1 line to file a complaint.