(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser kicked off National Public Works Week (NPWW) by recognizing the hard work of the team at the Department of Public Works (DPW), and DPW began their annual eight-week citywide graffiti cleanup across all eight wards. This week through July 12, DPW’s graffiti abatement team will be power washing and painting walls, as it removes graffiti markings and illegal posters and stickers from thousands of public spaces citywide. 
 
“We are incredibly grateful for the work the team at DPW does year-round to keep our city safe and beautiful and provide world-class city services,” said Mayor Bowser. “Whether it is through removing graffiti, keeping our streets and alleys clean, putting up beautiful works of art, supporting the work to keep our roads safe, or any of the many ways that DPW keeps our city moving forward – we are grateful for Team DPW and all they do for Washington, DC.”
  
Great Graffiti Wipe Out 2024 Schedule

  
To kick off NPWW, DPW will launch its first podcast, “Inside DPW: The Podcast that Explains How Public Works…Works.” Podcast listeners can catch new episodes of the DPW podcast weekday mornings, beginning May 28, on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and TuneIn.
 
“DPW employees are some of the hardest working people I know—they do the work most people wouldn’t want to do, and they do it with heart,” said DPW Director Timothy Spriggs. “Our new podcast will allow our audience to experience the humanity in the workers who collect their trash, write tickets, fix city vehicles, and who put their lives on the line during the pandemic to keep this city up and running.”
 
DPW also participated in “Donuts and Trucks on the Hill,” led by the American Public Works Association (APWA), which sponsors NPWW as a way to celebrate the work of the millions of public works personnel throughout North America and Canada. At the May 19 Capitol Hill event, APWA staff joined DPW crews to showcase two vehicles in front of the U.S. Capitol, to remind passing Hill aides and legislators of the impact public works functions have on their constituents.
 
Any property owner in the District can make a 311 request to have graffiti removed from their property. Last year, DPW closed out more than 4,000 requests to remove graffiti and illegal posters. DPW also runs the nationally recognized MuralsDC program as a way to help combat graffiti, bring original works of art to District corridors and provide opportunities for local artists. Since the program’s launch in 2007, MuralsDC has installed more than 150 works of art across all eight wards.
 

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