Earlier this month, the Portland city council voted on some of its priorities for the year, including the plan to deploy more contracted cleaners as a part of its Graffiti Program. In the next few weeks, Think Out Loud will host a series of conversations about graffiti in Portland. We start with Bridgid Blackburn, the co-owner of the homegoods store Cargo. She says that she has seen an increase in unpermitted street art over the past 10 years in the Central Eastside. Because of the frequency of tagging she sees on her building, the hefty price tag that comes with a professional cleaner and the less than ideal timeline for a response from the city, she takes it upon herself to paint over any unwanted street art once a week. Blackburn joins us to share what she’s been seeing and what she hopes the city will do in the future.