WASHINGTON — Protest in and around D.C. against police have subsided considerably since June. The majority of people who flocked to D.C. streets caused no damage to public or private property, but there were a few people who damaged businesses and who tagged buildings and other structures with spray paint.
That comes with a price tag for the City of D.C.
For more than a month, crews from D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW) came to the Black Lives Matter Plaza area daily to remove graffiti from buildings and cement roadblocks. Every morning as the sun rose, you’d see teams of people pressure washing buildings and painting over barriers.
WUSA9 asked D.C. DPW how much these daily cleanings were costing, and it’s cost them a lot more than usual.
They said from May 31 to July 15, an extra approximate $35,000 has been spent on graffiti clean-up because of the 900 hours of overtime they logged for the process.
It’s important to note, graffiti removal is something the city budgets for every year and is a part of their normal operational practice.
In 2019, between May 31 and July 15, the city spent $56,000 on normal graffiti removal. This year, they’ve spent $65,000 on normal graffiti removal. Altogether, they’ve spent $100,000 this year between that time period.
The city said the increase is attributed to the protests.