About UNTAG

Empowering Residents to Reduce Graffiti

Uniting Neighborhoods To Abolish Graffiti (UNTAG) is Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti’s initiative to reduce graffiti in our communities.

This program is a people-based effort that empowers residents to monitor graffiti in their neighborhood and to access City resources to eliminate it.

Graffiti is not simply writing on the wall. It is, very often, a sign of gang activity, it destroys property, and its presence indicates a lack of vigilance both by neighbors and by law enforcement.

By providing Block Captains the tools and the knowledge to have graffiti painted out quickly and to monitor “hot spots,” the UNTAG program aims to organize and to empower the people most negatively affected by graffiti—residents, merchants and property owners.

UNTAG Block Captains are people from all walks of life who take responsibility for a specific geographical area. Many Block Captains commit simply to helping eradicate graffiti on their own residential block.

Block Captains report tagging locations to the City’s 311 service as soon as they observe them, keep track of “hot spots” and ensure that the people who own properties that are tagged on a regular basis have filled out a “Graffiti Removal Agreement,” and to work with the City’s Office of Community Beautification to provide long-term solutions, including vining and murals, for “hot spots.”

What Residents Are Saying About UNTAG:


"There was really no organized recourse for tagging before. The best part of the program is that it allows residents to take a proactive stance and it sends a message out that people are not being passive about their community."
Barry Shapiro,
Head of Atwater Village Neighborhood Watch

"I've seen graffiti plummet in my whole neighborhood, and I'm just one guy. Imagine what we could do if there were UNTAG block captains from San Pedro to Granada Hills!"
Rusty Millar,
Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Member