There are those individuals that find graffiti to be art. I am not one of them especially if the canvas being used for the graffiti is taxpayer-funded public property or in the case of private property when the graffiti is applied without securing the advance permission of the property owner.

Random tags on any sort of available surface are ugly.

They are vandalism and against the law. Collectively, when left unattended, they drag this community and its neighborhoods down.

They often cover up street signs making them hard to read. They are also very destructive to property depending upon the type of surface they have been applied to or the gross nature of their content.

Thanks in part to an effort by citizens over this past year, the city of Bremerton has started a new program that offers various solutions to residents.

Those solutions can be the reporting of the graffiti to city employees or in many cases simple access to the appropriate, safe for the environment and approved removal kits so that residents can assist with the effort and clean up the tags themselves.

A new graffiti reporting app for the iPhone has been created and is currently available for use through the Apple store. An app for Android users is currently seeking approval and will be coming soon.

In addition to these apps, Bremerton has also joined the SeeClickFix program. Residents can simply go to http://seeclickfix.com/bremerton and click on the “Report an Issue” button.

This allows the person reporting the issue to upload a picture of the problem in question as well as add the general area or specific address with a description.

Residents have the choice when they are reporting issues of using their names or remaining anonymous.

Graffiti clean-up kits are available through the Bremerton Public Works Department. I picked up mine from Director Chal Martin several weeks ago and have already been using it.

For more information about the CleanUpBremerton.com program simply go to the city website. Links and directions are available to everything you need.

Right now Graffiti is the only item being focused on.

I certainly hope that will change sooner rather than later and an expansion into the ability to report blighted properties and drug activity will also become easy options for residents and business owners to utilize.

For those of you who prefer the old school method of reporting issues, the Public Works Department First Response Line is 360-473-5920.

Give them a call, report the problem, location and information, then ask that it be added to the current list of issues to be fixed or removed.

The time is now for all of us to be helping Bremerton clean up its act. Please make frequent and necessary use to these new reporting tools and clean-up options.