LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the span of 90 minutes last Friday afternoon, Ralph Weible erased graffiti from bus stop signs and “no parking” signs, removed dozens of stickers from trolley signs and stop signs, and painted over a tag on a telephone pole and another on a utility meter.
It’s all in an afternoon’s work for the man known as the “Graffiti Buster.” And lately, those afternoons have gotten longer. “Warm weather and school letting out” increase graffiti, Weible said. “Derby brings a lot of out of town taggers too.”
For the past decade, Weible has scraped and scrubbed thousands of tags and stickers from signs and storefronts in Louisville. Before that he drove blood mobiles for the Red Cross and a school bus for Jefferson County Public Schools.
Now he drives a white pickup with a Graffiti Buster logo on the side. His primary route takes him through the eighth and ninth Metro Council districts, but sometimes he can’t help himself even beyond those boundaries. When he sees something that needs cleaning, Weible pulls over and grabs a razor blade for scraping, a can of acetone for scrubbing, or a can of paint for covering up.
“I try to do this five days a week, at least four hours a day, depending how much there is to clean,” said Weible, who wore his long hair in a ponytail and a “Litter is lame” shirt during his shift Friday.
Some days, Weible meanders down Frankfort Ave. and Bardstown Road looking for tags. Other days, he’s provided a list that includes jobs big and small.
He takes special pride in keeping the Highlands clean. “My great grandparents lived in the Highlands. I’ve got old photographs of a great, great uncle, about that tall at the time,” he said, holding a hand near his knee, “standing at the triangle.”
Business owners along his route rely on Weible, said Aaron Givhan, president of the Highlands Commerce Guild. “When you find these and make him aware, he usually gets to it within 24 hours,” Givhan said.
That can serve as a deterrent to future graffiti — why go through the effort of tagging if it’s going to be gone within hours? — and ensure the vandalism does not negatively affect that businesses. “Areas that keep clean are more productive,” Givhan said. “There’s a higher return of dollars of any area that it stays clean.”
Weible isn’t always tasked with simple removal. Sometimes he also has to preserve what’s underneath. That was the case when a Hunter S. Thompson mural in the Highlands was splashed with black paint three years ago. Not only did Weible remove the paint, but he preserved the mural under it. “It takes somebody that has knowledge,” Givhan said. “It’s not just squirt, squirt and wipe it off.”
While the business owners appreciate Weible’s work, the graffiti artists tend to feel differently.
“I’ve had one woman who repeatedly cusses at me as she’s driving down the street,” he said. “I think I know who she is and what her tag is, but I’m not going to go there.”
Weible has learned that those who keep him in business refer to him as “Buff Man” because he’s so quick to clean up their handiwork. That is, unless he enjoys it. Weible said he’s intentionally left up graffiti with a message and he recently let some painted poetry stand for a few days.
Ultimately, he couldn’t help himself, and he cleaned it off. “It wasn’t very good poetry,” he said.