Leonard doss
Graffiti BUSTER
Leonard Doss Jr., a native son of San Francisco, comes to his job with a mission: Keep his hometown looking beautiful. He’s part of a small but mighty Public Works graffiti-abatement team that wipes out tens of thousands of tags every year.
“The graffiti makes the City look terrible. I was born and raised here, so I love San Francisco,” he said. “So when I see that damage that they’re doing – it doesn’t make sense. If you live here, why are you destroying the neighborhood in the city that you live in?”
His unit is housed in the Bureau of Street Environmental Services, whose primary task is to keep the City clean. The bureau’s crews use brooms, blowers, pickers, rakes, shovels, power washers, mechanical sweepers and flusher trucks – plus an array of other tools and machines – to get the job done. Doss Jr. and the graffiti team use paint, brushes, spray guns, scrapers and solvents to tackle the copious tags.
Their work is never-ending.
Listen to Leonard's passion about keeping San Francisco free of graffiti and what his job is like working for Public Works.
“I like serving the public, I really enjoy my job. That’s why I’ve been doing this so long.”
Despite the steady and often heavy workload, Doss Jr. isn't deterred. He loves his job. To him, spraying over graffiti is “poetry in motion” and coming to work every day is “easy.”
“I like serving the public,” he said. “I really enjoy my job. That’s why I’ve been doing this so long.”
Historically, the Public Works graffiti operation focused almost solely on eradicating tags on public property, such as retaining walls, civic buildings, light poles, traffic signs, bike racks, sidewalk trash cans and, sadly, street trees.
Under City code, private property owners are responsible for removing graffiti from their property. If they don’t, Public Works’ inspectors can issue them warnings and fines. But in 2022, with legislative support and dedicated funding from the mayor and Board of Supervisors, Public Works launched a pilot program allowing us to provide courtesy graffiti abatement on private property in neighborhood commercial districts, as long as the owners opt in. More than 1,200 property owners have signed up already, with more joining in.
“You should take pride in your city.”
The opt-in program is one more approach Public Works uses to tackle graffiti, a problem that vexes communities around the world. The U.S. Justice Department has estimated that costs for graffiti abatement efforts exceed $10 billion a year nationwide.
And it’s not just the direct financial costs that cause harm. Tags are a form of vandalism, making neighborhoods feel less welcoming. That’s why we aim to remove graffiti as quickly as possible.
Doss Jr. is committed to doing his part in the seemingly endless yet noble pursuit to keep our neighborhoods clean and beautiful.
“You should take pride in your city,” he said. “That’s the great thing about my job: I’m trying to make a dent in it.”