A county-wide effort to get rid of graffiti is now underway in area neighborhoods.

”TAG” stands for Take Away Graffiti. There is a big paintover scheduled for downtown Indianapolis at the end of this month, and on Wednesday, the focus was on the Haughville and Hawthorne neighborhoods.

Prosecutor Carl Brizzi picked up a brush and painted over graffiti in an alley off west Michigan Street. Brizzi says there has been an increase in the amount of gang-related graffiti in this area and it's linked to three known gangs.
   
Brizzi and adult probationers covered thirty spray-painted houses, garages and small businesses.

“It feels good.  In another sense I shouldn't be doing this because I shouldn't have gotten myself caught up in what I was doing.  But it's a good positive thing to help the community,” said Darious Turner, a probationer.

“We'll be out here.  We'll repaint it and we're going to make sure that the people who live here that their property values aren't driven down and that drug dealers and prostitutes and other folks [know] that they're just not invited,” said Brizzi.

On a different issue, Brizzi will speak out on a $300,000 proposed cut in his budget. Brizzi will ask members of the council's public safety committee to reconsider the plan.

The council announced more than $2 million in cuts from 2004 budgets last week following unexpected revenue shortfalls.