Dallas officials talk a great graffiti-fighting game. Plenty of action of late, too, like the hiring of a "graffiti czar" -- why not kaiser or caesar, again? -- and conducting of a citywide anti-graffiti day.

Which makes the story of the vacant structure at 500 S. Ervay St. all the more curious.

Built in 1910, the former Butler Brothers Building is supposed to be undergoing resurrection as a heavily city-subsidized apartment development.

But after some initial work on the building's exterior, construction has halted in recent months because of what developers say are financial issues they're trying to work out. Meanwhile, a security fence that once ringed the property is gone. Signs of illegal entry -- litter, broken windows -- are evident.

Most glaring, however, was a bloom of graffiti that appeared all over the southern and western faces of structure's top floor sometime in late September. And it wasn't as if everyone in Dallas government couldn't see it: The building sits directly across Ervay Street from Dallas City Hall.

Weeks passed, no change. On Oct. 25, Dallas' Code Compliance Department issued the building's owners a citation, Assistant Director Faye Williams said. But the citation prompted no action. When informed of the graffiti in mid-November interviews, Mayor Tom Leppert and City Council member Angela Hunt expressed outrage that it remained on the building weeks after it first appeared.

"It's unacceptable," Mr. Leppert said. "We have to be more aggressive in dealing with it."

A week and half later, after returning from Thanksgiving vacation out of town, I drove by the building. The graffiti, in its neon ugliness, hadn't been abated. So I called and left a message with Bob Bisno, the building's California-based developer. Mr. Bisno promptly returned the call, and in doing so, seemed as surprised as anyone about the graffiti situation.

"I'm not down there, so I haven't seen it," Mr. Bisno said. "I'll make sure it's taken care of."

Next day, the graffiti was gone, covered over by paint nearly matching the building's tawny exterior color.

It's debatable whether anyone beside the fools who climbed a fire escape to the top of a seven-story building just to tag it are at fault here. But if Dallas City Hall can't promptly clean up a graffiti blight right across the street on a tax-subsidized building whose owner government officials knows well, how will it handle far more perplexing graffiti problems in Oak Cliff, Deep Ellum or any other Dallas neighborhood?