Kansas City businesses are fighting back against a persistent graffiti problem that they say is hurting their ability to attract customers and visitors. The Hampton Inn Downtown Kansas City, located at 801 Walnut Street in the heart of the city's business district, has become a focal point in this battle as hotel management struggles to keep their property clean while maintaining their reputation among travelers.
General Manager Darryl Bulson explains the direct impact graffiti has on business, noting that first impressions are crucial in the hospitality industry. "You can look up a hotel, and it's a five-star hotel with the highest reviews, and you drive by it and there's graffiti on the wall. You're probably gonna keep driving," he said, "because that just automatically makes you think that, well, this is a really, really bad part of town." The Hampton Inn has been targeted by vandals approximately five times during Bulson's tenure, with most incidents occurring in the narrow back alley behind the building that reeks of dumpster smells and is filled with the hum of air conditioners.
The hotel is part of the Downtown River Market Community Improvement District (CID), a nonprofit organization established in 2003 that is funded through special assessments, sales and use taxes paid by residents in the district. In return, the CID provides public improvements, safety measures, and supports private projects throughout the area. One of the organization's most challenging and persistent problems has been keeping up with graffiti removal, which has become a full-time job requiring dedicated staff and resources.
To combat the vandalism, the Hampton Inn has implemented security measures including installing a door with two deadbolt locks to prevent access to the previously open alley. However, these barriers have not completely deterred vandals, who have continued to target even the front of the building. Bulson recalls discovering graffiti on the front of the hotel last February, saying, "They said 'You realize you have graffiti on the front?' We didn't even know it had happened. 'We can be back first thing in the morning,' they said. And by noon the next day, it was cleared off."
The CID's Graffiti Removal Initiative employs a dedicated team of two staff members who are specifically tasked with staying on top of the graffiti problem throughout downtown Kansas City. Sheila Tatum, 39, is one of these specialized workers who has been doing this job for more than 17 years. Every morning, she drives a pickup truck equipped with a 500-gallon hot water pump around downtown, surveying potential canvases on both public and private buildings to identify new tags and vandalism.
Tatum's daily routine involves using specialized equipment and cleaning materials to remove graffiti. She uses a cleaning substance with the unusual name "Elephant Snot," which is a thick, gooey whitish material that she applies to vandalized surfaces with a large brush before waiting 20 minutes and then power washing the paint off with a long nozzle attached to her truck-mounted system. On a typical day, she estimates removing between 30 to 40 tags and stickers, dealing with approximately 200 incidents per month.
While Tatum enjoys her work because it gets her outside and allows her to contribute to the betterment of the city, she finds certain aspects of graffiti particularly troubling. She has encountered hate speech and inappropriate messages, including antisemitic content near 9th and Wyandotte Streets. "My thing is to treat others the way that you want to be treated," she said. She is especially concerned when she has to clean offensive and obscene words, gestures, and images near areas where children learn and play.
Despite her commitment to removing graffiti, Tatum sometimes struggles with having to repeatedly erase the work of skilled artists. "The color figures that they even put together, they're really nice," she said, "but you know, it is no longer art when it's not asked for." This sentiment reflects the complex relationship between recognizing artistic talent and addressing unauthorized property vandalism.
Sean O'Byrne, executive director of the downtown CID, operates from the organization's headquarters in a high-rise building at 1000 Walnut Street. Having spent years studying graffiti culture, he understands the motivations behind tagging behavior. He explains that taggers typically target high-traffic areas where their work will be seen by the most people, and most incidents occur overnight when detection is less likely. "You'll see the biggest consolidation of them generally in areas where it's highly visible," he noted.
The CID has invested in surveillance technology, including a bank of monitors that display feeds from cameras positioned throughout downtown Kansas City. However, this system has limitations since CID staff work during the day and no one monitors the cameras overnight when most tagging occurs. Despite these challenges, O'Byrne takes pride in their rapid response capabilities and believes Kansas City is ahead of other cities in graffiti removal efforts.
Forrest Decker, Director of the Kansas City, Missouri, Neighborhood Services Department, acknowledges that preventing graffiti is extremely difficult. "Graffiti is really hard to prevent," he said. "You can't have a police officer or security guard stationed beside every building in town." The city has experimented with preventative measures, including commissioning muralists to paint walls that are frequently tagged, such as those along U.S. Highway 71 near downtown. This strategy has shown some success, as many taggers respect other artists' work and will avoid vandalizing commissioned murals, though they often simply shift their activities to different locations.
The CID's efforts appear to be having a positive impact on downtown development and population growth. O'Byrne reports that the downtown area has experienced significant growth since the organization's establishment, with the residential population increasing from 6,000 in 2003 to over 34,000 currently. The district has also added more than 400,000 square feet of street-level retail space, suggesting that the cleanup efforts are contributing to the area's economic development and attractiveness to residents and businesses.
Looking toward the future, O'Byrne mentions that organizations outside the CID are exploring ways to engage with taggers and potentially redirect their artistic talents into more constructive channels. Back at the Hampton Inn, despite the ongoing challenges graffiti creates for his business and others downtown, Darryl Bulson acknowledges the creativity that some taggers demonstrate. He encourages them to find legitimate outlets for their artistic expression, saying, "Find a canvas that is yours. Find a place where you can display your art proudly instead of having to spray it and then run."
