Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Graffiti is seen on a billboard near the intersection of Highway 395 and Highway 50 West. Because the graffiti is on private property, the city's graffiti abatement program couldn't cover it without permission. The owners weren't aware of the damage.
Graffiti on a billboard at the south end of town may be a love letter to a girl named "Kaitlin," but cleanup crews see it as an eyesore.
Claudia Saavedra, Carson City's alternative sentencing coordinator and head of the graffiti abatement program, said her department can't do anything with the graffiti because it is on private property.
She said she has not received a request from the owner to clean it up, and since her program paints over the blights, how would that work on a paper-based billboard?
The billboard proclaims to southbound Highway 395 commuters, "I love Kaitlin" in large black and red letters, and has been visible on the empty sign for weeks.
Northbound commuters get to read the word "peach" spelled out in paper.
Marc Davey, account manager for Reagan Outdoor Advertising which owns the billboard, said his office was unaware the billboard had been tagged again. There is not a contact number posted on the sign to the company.
He said this particular board in the 4700 block of South Carson Street has been a target for vandals before and his company just cleaned it off recently.
"Obviously, someone saw the literally clean slate, and decided to do something with that," Davey said from his office in Utah.
He said an advertisement for Reagan Outdoor Advertising is slated for the board, but until then, his company will make an effort to clean it off.
"Rarely do we get signs that are vandalized," he said. "But sometimes it happens and we do our best to maintain our structures."
• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.