After 36 years of doing business on Northeast Alberta Street, Floyd Booker has dealt with his share of problems. But one aspect of the operation has him at wit's end these days -- graffiti.

The 87-year-old owner of

said the constant spray-painting on the side of his building, which started a few years ago, makes him wonder if the vandalism is racially motivated. Booker is African American and comes to the conclusion by looking at adjacent buildings.

"I hate to believe it's a racial issue but after continually seeing this, you reach that conclusion," he said. "If they used up my wall, why not go over there and paint on those other walls?"

Booker, who has painted over the bubble letters, squares and circles in years past -- spending $26 for a gallon of paint each time -- has thrown in the towel. "It is disgusting to the point you think you are a loser by continually having to paint over it," he said. "So you give up, like I have."

His complaint comes at a time when the

organization is launching a street-wide campaign to tackle the problem. Graffiti has been such a long-standing issue along the popular commercial strip that few think Booker's vandalism is racially motivated.

Across Alberta Street from his business, the

s mural has not been tagged but its trucks have been. Across 17th Avenue from the Community Cycling Center, graffiti mars a brick column.

Back on Booker's side of Alberta Street, the business Collage was tagged last week, though a shop worker quickly painted over the vandalism. On the other side of Booker's business, there is no graffiti next door at

but there are signs of painted-over patches a few feet away, at the intersection of 18th Avenue, on

.

It's easy to understand Booker's frustrations. Paint is expensive and the offense happens repeatedly.

"Unfortunately, I don't think anyone is immune to being the recipient of it," said

of Alberta Main Street.

Because the problem is so frustrating and expensive, Alberta Main Street later this month will launch the Clean Street program. The project will kick off on April 23 during the street's Earth Day Clean Up event. If business and building owners provide the paint and brushes, the organization will supply volunteers to do the work -- depending on the weather.

Later, the program will launch an aggressive push to fight graffiti weekly. Business owners are asked to contribute $125 a year and building owners $250 a year to the project. For the money, a private company will power wash the street, remove stickers from storefronts, clean telephone poles of fliers, empty 20 new trash cans placed along the strip and paint over graffiti twice a week.

Nowadays, graffiti covers many doors, storefronts and signs. The strip has about four garbage cans from the intersection of Northeast 10th to 31st. Telephone poles are plastered with fliers, and the fliers end up on the street.

"Everyone says this is a problem so we're hoping everyone will step up and help pay to fix the problem," Wittenberg said.

There may not be any graffiti on the building next door to Booker's because the

at the end of the block has security cameras. The building is also newer than Booker's and has more lighting. Both features deter tagging, Wittenberg said. So can painting over the graffiti before taggers come to think of it as a canvas.

Across 17th from Booker's business, Collage owner Maria Raleigh takes an aggressive stance against tagging.

"We have all the colors of paint for our building/fence/planter boxes, air conditioning unit, recycling bins, etc. in our storage room," she wrote in an email. "And part of the opening duties at

is to check the perimeter of the building for graffiti. If any graffiti is spotted it is immediately painted over. This has proven to be an effective graffiti deterrent for us."

The problem isn't just along Alberta Street. It's across the city. The city's Graffiti Task Force meets monthly. Anyone who spots graffiti is encouraged to

or through the hotline at 503-823-4824.

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