HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke has acquired and unveiled a new “graffiti eater” that will work to tackle graffiti defacement around the city.
The Holyoke Board of Health introduced a new initiative to assist property owners in removing unwanted graffiti, utilizing the newly acquired tool. The graffiti eater is a state-of-the-art trailer equipped with a power washing machine and eco-friendly materials designed specifically for graffiti removal.
This innovative system uses a specially formulated detergent known as Elephant Snot, which is heated to between 95 and 100 degrees before being sprayed through a high-pressure lance to effectively vaporize graffiti.
“The process begins with applying Elephant Snot to the affected area and allowing it to sit for 20 to 30 minutes,” said Holyoke General Construction Supervisor Jonathan Moquin. “After that, we use a high-pressure washer and hard bristle brushes to scrub and eliminate the graffiti.”
Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said the new tool will help combat the nuisance that so often is graffiti vandalism.
“The code is that if there is graffiti on your property, property owners are responsible for taking it off and making sure that they’re clean and clear of graffiti that’s visual. It’s a nuisance and its costly for property owners to try and keep up with it. Right when you take it off, the following week its there again. It happens in the middle of the night. It’s really out of their control so at that point we said how can we help our property owners so that we’re not just enforcing this rule. For this complicated issue, how do we partner with them to combat this issue?” Garcia said.
Since Garcia became mayor, he has consistently called on property owners across the city to be better on trash and overgrowth maintenance of properties. With the creation of the flex squad and consistent messaging Garcia said there has been efforts toward improvement from property owners but the issue of graffiti has been a consistent issue.
“The hardest thing I think has been keeping up with the graffiti issue. It’s just an annoying nuisance. The idea there was how else can we help property owners keep up with this issue and this was one good opportunity that we certainly pursued to be sure that it felt like the city was acknowledging the concern and sensitive to the issue and working together with them to the extent that we’re able,” Garcia explained.
Garcia added he learned from the city of Springfield about its graffiti eater program and the city has since replicated the program for Holyoke.
“We hear it all the time. No one likes enforcement. It’s not fun when mom and dad are telling you that you need to do this or else. Graffiti is just one of those things where its like, its hard to blame a property owner for the graffiti issue,” Garcia said. “We were excited to learn how Springfield was doing it, and we were like oh this is a no brainer we need to absolutely replicate that and help.”
The graffiti eater can be deployed upon request from property owners or when graffiti appears on a city-owned property. Property owners must sign a waiver acknowledging that the city will not be held liable for any potential damage during the removal process.
“Once we received the signed waiver, we’ll schedule a removal for the following Saturday and notify the property owner of the exact time,” Moquin added.
The initial visit is provided at no charge. Subsequent visits will incur a fee, which will be determined based on the extent of the graffiti and the labor required for complete removal. Elephant Snot is touted for its effectiveness, designed to penetrate deeply into porous surfaces like concrete, brick and stone, making it ideal for tackling the toughest graffiti.
To request a visit from the graffiti eater call 413-534-2238.
