DETROIT – The city of Detroit is working to remove graffiti from two historic plants on Detroit's east side that have been eyesores for many years partly due to the tags.
The Fisher Body Plant, located on Hastings, and the Packard Automotive Plant, located off of I-94, are both being cleaned up by the city.
"It's no longer tolerated in the city of Detroit," said Jessica Parker with Detroit's General Services Department when speaking about the tagging.
The city removed more than 400 tags from the Fisher Body Plant and about 200 tags from the Packard Plant.
"This building is a graffiti haven for the taggers to come. They tag the building. They skateboard in the building. They do everything they want to in the building," said Parker.
Now, the city has been painting over the tags and is taking some extra steps to keep the property tag-free.
"We went into the building. We welded the doors and cut off the access to the roof, and we're also removing the fire escapes from the building," she said.
As for the Packard plant, the private owner who owns part of the property has agreed to also help get rid of the tags on the building. The city said the private owner has a long-term plan to fix the structure.
"When we have newcomers coming into the city, we don't want this to be the first building they see because it gives a bad image," Parker said.
Monday is the last day the city scheduled to clean up the tags and they are hoping they won't have to return to the Fisher property to remove more.
"We want our property values to go back up. We want our people to feel safe, our communities to feel safe. As for the taggers, it's being done illegally and they will get a fine and will go to jail if we catch them and they are repeat offenders," Parker said.
Sign up for ClickOnDetroit Email Newsletters (click here) for more stories like this.