This downtown neighborhood was hit with 52 reports of graffiti Sunday. It was gone by Monday.

Sergio Cortes was on a Sunday-morning walk when he noticed the graffiti that had popped up in his neighborhood, seemingly overnight.

It wasn't any artful kind.

"Our neighborhood got hit pretty bad with graffiti on ArtHop. Including the new Peerless building. A lot of apartments and businesses got hit," Cortes wrote in a post on the Cultural Arts District neighborhood group on Facebook.

It included a picture collage.

The post was a shout out for volunteers willing to help document and report the graffiti to the city using the digital app FresGo.

FresGo was introduced in 2015 as a way for residents to request city services, addressing problems like gaping potholes, broken sidewalks, failed traffic lights and graffiti.

Cortes sees himself as the unofficial Cultural Arts District Ambassador. When he sees taggings, he snaps a picture and sends it in. So, he's s used the app before on his walks. This time he knew he needed the help.

"I have never seen our neighborhood hit this bad," says Cortes.

"There was tagging on windows, street signs, doors, walls and even trees," he says.

"Who does that?"

Cortes and neighbor Ashlee Lidyoff spent three hours reporting the graffiti. They covered the entire west side of the Cultural Arts District from Fulton to H street and Divisadero to Tuolumne street. By the end of the day, there were 52 reports submitted through the app.

Typically, city crews show up within 24 hours. But Sergio's post had been seen by the Fresno Police Department and a crew came out the same day. By Monday evening, the graffiti was gone.

"We made a difference yesterday," Cortes says.

"It is great seeing neighbors doing their part to keep their neighborhood safe and clean."

Police have seen a small uptick in graffiti coinciding with the ArtHop events that happen on the first Thursdays of each month and continue to be popular, bringing crowds of people into the area.

But not all of all of this graffiti happened overnight.

"Some of it's newer. Some of it was older," says Mike Gebhart, sergeant at the Downtown Policing Unit, which responded to the reports. The department is looking into incidents and will be checking video footage of the area from ArtHop night. Detectives will also review photos to see if the monikers match any known taggers.

"If we can put a case on someone and arrest them, we will," he says.

FresGo is available on Google Play and iTunes and accessible online at www.fresno.gov/fresgo. Service requests can also be made by phone by calling 559- 621-CITY (2489).

This story was originally published June 11, 2018 at 8:02 PM with the headline "This downtown neighborhood was hit with 52 reports of graffiti Sunday. It was gone by Monday.."