Graffiti seems a ubiquitous feature of urban life. It splashes across bridges, zigzags down walls, and hugs the rusty husks of boxcars.

To some, it is a form of art — after all, both Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiet left their tags across New York before going on to dominate the early 80s art world.

But to most, graffiti is a menace. It defines the turfs of feuding gangs and encourages crime. It causes headaches for property-owners and blemishes the built environment.

And in the summer months, when the weather encourages potential vandals to go outside and the lack of school leaves them with ample time for mischief, the amount of graffiti being spray-painted across the capital rises sharply.

"The volume that we see, it definitely increased during the summer," Tony Casarez, with the Graffiti Abatement Program, said. "We stay real busy".

Scrubbing and painting over the graffiti may seem a never-ending task, with new tags always turning up to replace the old ones, but Casarez and others in his program dedicate themselves to eradicating it.

"If it's a community organization like the Boy Scouts or the Girl Scouts," he said. "We have a lot of church groups that call in and they will come in and pick up supplies and will provide them with paint, rollers, and pans and everything and they can go out and clean up graffiti."

The tags tend to cluster geographically, with the hardest hit areas being those that generally suffer from higher-crime rates and attract young people.

"The city of Austin Health and Human Services has cleaned up 350 graffiti sites so far, this month over half in the downtown area," Ray Rodriguez, with the City of Austin, said.

That's where the graffiti hotline helps. People can call and the small team will show up to tackle graffiti of all sizes.

To report graffiti or to find out how your community organization can help clean up, call (512) 854-4125.