New tool could help Auburn’s fight against graffiti

Officers from the Auburn Police Department, as well as representatives from the city’s planning, finance and parks departments, attended a recent demonstration of a new, nontoxic graffiti-removal technology called the Farrow System at the 800 block of 5th Street Southeast.

November 29, 2008 9:00 am
Brent Christopherson from Surface Cleaning Technologies removes graffiti from a concrete wall on 5th Street Southeast as part of a demonstration.
Brent Christopherson from Surface Cleaning Technologies removes graffiti from a concrete wall on 5th Street Southeast as part of a demonstration.

Officers from the Auburn Police Department, as well as representatives from the city’s planning, finance and parks departments, attended a recent demonstration of a new, nontoxic graffiti-removal technology called the Farrow System at the 800 block of 5th Street Southeast.

The demonstration was hosted by Surface Cleaning Technologies, a Bellevue-based cleaning company that uses the Farrow System machine.

Approximately 20 city employees watched as a machine operator blasted gray paint from a sound wall alongside Highway 18. The sound wall previously had been tagged and gray paint had been used to cover up the graffiti.

“Bare concrete would look a lot nicer,” said Mike Miller, parks maintenance manager, comparing the city’s current “paint-out” approach to complete graffiti removal. Miller said the Farrow System could be effective especially in cleaning public art because of its adjustable water pressure.

The Farrow System uses volcanic crystals, warm water and pressure to clean various surfaces such as cement, brick and wood. It originated in Great Britain where it was developed to clean rusty farm equipment.

After watching the gray paint wash away from the sound wall, Auburn Assistant Police Chief Bob Karnofski said he thought the Farrow System could be an effective tool in the city’s ongoing battle with graffiti.

“If you keep things looking clean and orderly, the community feels safer,” Karnofski said.

He cited the “broken windows” study that came out of New York showing that by addressing minor public safety nuisances, like broken windows and graffiti,

law enforcement was able to curb more serious crime.

The recent demonstration was initiated by Sgt. Lee Gaskill of the Algona Police Department. Algona recently received a grant from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to contract Surface Cleaning Technologies to remove graffiti from public property at $2 per square foot.

“It’s cheaper in the long run,” Gaskill said, “and looks better than mismatched blobs of grey paint.”

Representatives from the city who attended the demo said they would consider adopting the method of graffiti removal for Auburn.

“It seems like a good solution to an ongoing problem affecting a lot of our neighborhoods,” said Duanna Richards, community services manager with the Department of Planning and Community Development.