OMAHA, Neb. -- A group of parents couldn't wait for the city, so Friday they decided to clean up graffiti at their children's school themselves.

Parents and the principal of Babe Gomez Elementary School, near 17th and P streets, called the Mayor's Hotline twice to report graffiti at the new school. Twice, they said, their request to get rid of the graffiti was put on hold.

Janie Rapier said it was important to remove the mess, which is why parents and the school united. "We wanted to say that, you know, we're going to make sure that this is safe -- this neighborhood is safe for our kids to attend this school," Rapier said.

When classes began for the first time at Babe Gomez Wednesday, everything was sparkling. When the graffiti appeared -- believed to be written by a gang member -- parents wanted it removed immediately.

"I think it sent a message that this wasn't a very good thing for our students to see," said Principal Mary Morrisey.

Morrisey said she called the Mayor's Hotline and was told it would be two weeks before a city crew could clean up the markings.

"To me, that's not good enough," Rapier said. "It took me less than three hours to do this. I'm certain it could've taken the mayor's task force on graffiti to do it less than three hours."

But Rapier said she couldn't wait to find out, so she rented a power washer and threw in some elbow grease.

"I think it sent a very good message. We all work as a team, (and) there's lot of things we can accomplish," Morrisey said.

Mayor Mike Fahey's office said two weeks is about the standard for graffiti cleanup.