Graffitied fence prompts Federal Way’s first volunteer beautification day

Published 3:30 pm Thursday, April 16, 2015

A 2,000-foot fence in Federal Way has been catching eyes for years but not for the right reasons.

The fence along 21st Avenue Southwest, just south of Southwest 325th Place on the east side, divides a busy street from residential homes, but the white fence has also been home to taggers and graffiti artists for years.

Although city maintenance crews are diligent about painting over the very public markings, the fence has been “looking blotchy” lately and was in great need of a makeover.

“Right now, most of it is covered up,” said city Code Compliance Officer John Fairbanks about the graffiti. “When the weather starts to get nice, there will be an uptick.”

In an effort to help keep Federal Way looking nice and rally the community together, Fairbanks organized Let’s Paint Federal Way, a day-long volunteer-based event to paint the long fence on April 25. The event will be the first beautification/action day in the city’s history.

More than 100 volunteers have already committed to helping.

“When I started doing this project, people came out of the woodwork,” Fairbanks said. “Hopefully this is the first of many.”

Fairbanks said he has about 40 volunteers from the Korean American Parents Association, many from the Army recruits on delayed enlistment, Key Clubbers, church-goers and even a police officer. Mayor Jim Ferrell will also attend, he said.

“My fear now is there’s too many volunteers,” Fairbanks said.

But longtime volunteer Shelley Pauls and her husband had the idea to bring lawn mowers and take a group of volunteers to the West Way park.

“It’s really important for Federal Way because I totally believe that beautification is a wonderful thing for any city,” Pauls said. “… It’s just an old fence that needs some TLC.”

Pauls has also helped with the event by calling a KIND snack bar representative to donate treats for the volunteers in addition to helping Fairbanks promote the event.

“We’ll have something for everybody to do,” he said, adding that a lot of pre-planning went into this project.

Ski’s Painting in Kent donated 27 five-gallon pails of paint for the fence at no cost.

A five-gallon pail of paint can cost anywhere from $100 to $150, Fairbanks said, noting Ski’s Painting donated paint to the cities of Kent and SeaTac in the past also.

Fairbanks said his coworker’s husband works at the company and helped assist in the donations that will last the city maintenance crews well into the future.

“Once this fence is painted, if it’s re-graffitied, we can cover it with the same color,” Fairbanks said. “Taggers will then move on to another area.”

Fairbanks said while many people think graffiti and tagging is gang-related, it’s not.

“Mac and DZERT are not gang associated,” he said, referring to various styles of graffiti. “We get more gang tags over by the Dollar Tree.”

Fairbanks said Advancing Leadership has helped donate painting supplies and the Federal Way Costa Vida will donate 200 tacos for volunteers for lunch.

Water and snacks will also be provided. Fairbanks recommends wearing painting clothes, sturdy shoes or boots and a paint brush.

The day will be broken up in two painting shifts. The first shift will go from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the second shift will begin at 12:30 p.m. and end at 4 p.m. Volunteers are encouraged to meet at the Federal Way Public Schools building, located at 33250 21st Ave. SW in Federal Way. Each volunteer will need to sign a liability release waiver for safety reasons.