Fear not, Krog Street Tunnel enthusiasts: the Atlanta BeltLine's new graffiti squad isn't coming for your favorite tribute art. But for the foreseeable future, days were numbered for profane scrawlings and unauthorized tags on and near the paved multi-use trails, according to a 2024 announcement from Atlanta BeltLine Inc.
The agency ran the first phase of a pilot program in late February, hiring graffiti removal specialists Sun Brite Services to thoroughly clean retention walls, guard rails, and light poles along the Eastside and Westside trails. The work is funded through City of Atlanta legislation that allocated an additional $16 million annually for park improvements. Sun Brite committed to weekly graffiti sweeps going forward, plus addressing profane or emergency-flagged graffiti within two days of a report -- with the pilot program running through summer 2025.
Notably, the cleanup explicitly excludes spaces long established as sanctioned canvases for muralists and graffiti artists -- including the Krog Street Tunnel and the Eastside Trail stretch beneath John Lewis Freedom Parkway. Those remain fair game for the ever-changing layers of legal street art that have made them Atlanta landmarks in their own right.
"As we continue to build out the 22-mile loop, the task of maintaining this public amenity is ongoing," BeltLine CEO and president Clyde Higgs said in the announcement, adding that his team is "actively exploring innovative ways to ensure that the BeltLine is maintained." Atlantans can report graffiti or maintenance issues through the city's ATL311 system.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published March 2024.