SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Communities along San Diego's coast have seen an increase in graffiti and tagging as the weather warms up and people flock to the beaches.
Most recently, a wall along the sand in Solana Beach was tagged twice, frustrating people who surf and swim nearby.
"It's a public beach, there's no reason someone should be desecrating it like that," says Andres Gomez, who surfs in Solana Beach regularly. "I wish everyone would be more respectful of the space that we share."
"I just think of my tax dollars being wasted," says Solana Beach resident Darla Dressler. "Somebody's gotta come paint it. So either the HOA's paying it or the city's paying it."
Earlier in May, 10News reported on a home in Pacific Beach that was hit by graffiti. Social media posts showing graffiti have also become more common.
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The City of San Diego tracks graffiti reports through the Get it Done app. In all of 2019, there have been 6,568 reports of graffiti through the end of May. But in May alone, there were 1,989 reports of graffiti. That's nearly a third of all the reports in 2019 so far.
It's also well above the average month in 2018, which had 19,541 total reports, or about 1,628 per month.
While the city tries to respond to each complaint, several local community groups have taken it upon themselves to clean up the tags. The Pacific Beach Town Council hosts regular graffiti clean up days. Their event in May removed more than 700 tags according to a Facebook post.
