LITTLE ROCK, Ark — If you're driving along I-630 in Little Rock, you may have noticed more graffiti along the freeway.
While some may see it as artistic expression, officials said that it's still technically a code violation if it's not previously approved by the city.
With more and more cases being reported, there's been more of a spotlight on the problem-- even in local neighborhoods.
Some of the people that are addressing the problem include Grant Morris, who is the president of the Capitol View Stifft Station Neighborhood Association.
While walking to a neighborhood near Rose Creek Park, he noticed colorful graffiti along a white wall that was built near Boone Street.
"Apparently people came and tagged our nice white wall that we had here. A couple years ago, a few of us painted over this wall. We painted and that was white back in the day and now it's no longer," said Morris.
He said he understands that people want to express themselves and put their art out there, but a white wall like the one in his neighborhood isn't the greatest base for tagging as it peels overtime.
Those observations are also being made by other people in the neighborhood as well.
Tanya Hollifield also lives in the neighborhood and said she's watched the wall evolve for the last 20 years.
"More graffiti goes up, and then more paint goes over it, and more graffiti goes up. Some people actually appreciate it. Some people don't. What happens is because there's so much paint. Different kinds of paint layered on top of each other and it's everywhere just littered," said Hollifield.
According to Hollifield, once layers of paint and graffiti stack upon one another, it begins to peel off in chunks, much like what she's seen in her neighborhood already. It makes it a worse problem.
She remembers at one point people who painted came back with blotches of color.
"Then the graffiti artists came back and did their graffiti and it was actually really pretty, but they came and put more paint over it. I'm not a graffiti artist and I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about it other than it is kind of a counter culture movement that's been around 60 plus years," said Hollifield.
She said even though it's a counter culture, sometimes it becomes a part of the mainstream.
So while the graffiti brings mixed opinions, she said there are very specific ways to about fixing the issue.
So, that begs the question-- what are you supposed to do instead?
Well, you can call 311, a non-emergency line, to report it. This will bring in city crews who will clean it up.
There's even an app for the non-emergency line, which Morris said he's used before.
Officials, like those with the Arkansas Department of Transportation, encourage people to contact crews rather than trying to solve the problem themselves.
"By you, the citizen, applying paint or covering over it, you actually can cover a defect," said Dave Parker with ARDOT.
Parker said he doesn't know why the I-630 area has become such a popular place to tag with graffiti, but the department has sent out crews repeatedly to take care of it.
He also said in the end, it costs taxpayers money to have to send maintenance crews to clean up, which takes time away from other tasks like filling pot holes around the city.
In the end, although it can be a hassle, state and city leaders said that the best course of action is to report any graffiti you see.
"You see it, let us handle it. That's why we take care of it," said Parker.