Fighting graffiti tagging in Atlanta
One man has made it his mission to clean up the graffiti around the city. He started a volunteer nonprofit called Atlanta Beatification Committee and invites others to join in on his efforts.
ATLANTA – Armed with a paint sprayer and a mission to beautify his city, Craig Galanos is taking a grassroots approach to tackling graffiti across Atlanta, one wall at a time.
He is the founder of the Atlanta Beautification Committee, a volunteer nonprofit he launched with a friend to combat illegal tagging.
From utility poles on Piedmont Road to electrical boxes, stop signs, overpasses, and retaining walls, Galanos has covered up tags all over the city. He frequently shares dramatic before-and-after images of his work, including a recently repainted wall on Glenwood Road and the 400 overpass at Sidney Marcus Boulevard.
What they’re saying:
“What we are trying to do is eradicate graffiti around Atlanta,” Galanos said.
The effort is entirely self-driven, funded through donations, and powered by passion. Galanos, often seen riding a Bird scooter with a $1,000 paint sprayer strapped to his back, says he’s fueled by a love for Atlanta and paint donated by Sherwin-Williams.
“Right now it’s just me on a Bird scooter with a thousand-dollar paint sprayer on my back and a thousand dollars of paint donated by Sherwin-Williams running around the city and wherever we see a problem we take care of it,” he said.
Galanos draws a sharp distinction between graffiti and commissioned street art. While he respects muralists and their contributions to Atlanta’s visual landscape, he says illegal tagging damages the city’s reputation—especially as it prepares to welcome major national and international events.
“You need to grow up and take an art class because there is a lot of money made by muralists in the city,” Galanos said, addressing taggers directly. “We have national events coming here and we have international events coming, and the graffiti is a blight on the city and that’s not the impression that we want to leave on tourists coming to Atlanta.”
With every coat of fresh paint, Galanos says he feels like he’s doing something meaningful for the place he calls home.
“The feeling is just elation that they are not. I’m getting the last say for the city,” he said.
What’s next:
Galanos hopes to meet with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to discuss reactivating the city’s graffiti task force and finding new ways to collaborate with city officials.
For now, though, the fight continues—one spray at a time.
The Source: FOX 5’s Eric Perry spoke with Craig Galanos for this article.
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