Graffiti artists are creating “an issue and a problem” in downtown Middletown, said Jeff Payne, director of Downtown Middletown Inc.

Over the last several weeks, Middletown business owners are waking up to find graffiti painted on the sides of their buildings, Dumpsters and doors. Payne said the graffiti doesn’t paint a positive message downtown.

“Obviously, we’re not pleased,” said Payne, who said DMI’s building on Central Avenue was spray painted.

Middletown police and the city’s Community Revitalization departments are coordinating to “take care of this issue,” Shelby Quinlivan, communications coordinator for the city, wrote in an e-mail.

Maj. Scott Reeve from the Middletown Division of Police said it’s difficult to catch the culprits because they typically strike at night and it only takes seconds to deface a building. He said several downtown businesses have surveillance cameras, but the footage was shot too far away to identify the vandals. He said police patrols are hoping to catch the vandals “in the act.”

Mary Huttlinger, executive of director of Middletown Visitors Bureau, said there typically are three reasons for graffiti: a frustrated artist who doesn’t have “a better outlet;” gang members marking their territory; or teenagers “out for trouble.”

She said the graffiti isn’t artwork or gang-related, so she believes it’s the work of juveniles.

One Middletown downtown business owner, Jeri Lewis, believes the juveniles are painting the graffiti to “find a voice in their lives.”

Now, Lewis hopes to turn that ambition into something “positive.” Lewis, whose family owns the former Castell Building, hopes to meet with other business owners to create a “graffiti wall” where painters will be encouraged to use that instead of tagging buildings.

“They want a voice,” she said.

Lewis said the graffiti sends the wrong message to downtown visitors and potential business owners.

“(It) deters people coming downtown,” she said.

One message downtown reads: “Demons were here.”

Kingswell Seminary plans to open a seminary downtown on the second floor of the Castell Building in the next few months, Lewis said.

“God is bigger,” Lewis said. “She needs to shed light on stuff like that and get it cleaned up.”