Taggers hit Carson City welcome signs

Vandals have marred Carson City's new gateway welcome signs less than three weeks after the ribbon cutting

The same spray-painted tag was reported on the sign between Carson City and Mound House on Highway 50 and the northern sign welcoming visitors taking U.S. 395 into town.

By 10:30 a.m. Monday morning, workers in the city street department had cleaned up the northern sign and were on their way to finishing the eastern one.

"You got to be kidding me!" Carson City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ronni Hannaman said when she learned of the tagging, adding "it's a major disappointment."

Hannaman and her organization wage their own war on graffiti in town and she helped organize the ribbon cutting event Feb. 21.

"I probably echo everyone else - how can they do this?" Hannaman said, adding praise for the city's quick response. "It just shows how responsive the city is to have it cleaned up already."

The sheriff's Office also had an inmate work crew up there.

Furlong said he's been seeing more graffiti along that corridor. He said the railroad overpass also was reportedly hit. He said much of the graffiti appears to be coming from Lyon County.

"Because of the amount of traffic, it's not surprising to have tagging out there," he said.

He said his office will follow through with its normal anti-graffiti strategy: Remove it immediately and try to identify its source. The tags on signs Monday were identical, the cleaning crews said.

Installing the signs was a $400,000, multi-year project. Ground was broken last fall and it was conceived in 2005 after a branding study was conducted by the city's former Office of Economic Development.

It was paid for with a 50/50 matching grant from the Nevada Department of Transportation's Landscape and Aesthetics Community Matching Funds Programs. The city paid for its half with gasoline taxes raised by the Regional Transportation Commission.