Five years ago, Gideon Kramer was thrilled to be appointed to San Francisco's graffiti advisory board.

"I really thought I could make a difference," the graphic designer and 30-year city resident said Friday.

Three years into it, he resigned in disgust. He said he'd rather spend his time volunteering to help landscape local schools, as he does now. It wasn't just that graffiti was popping up faster than it could be painted over - it was that people had given up.

"People would say, 'Why do you bother? It's just going to be back tomorrow,' " he said.

San Francisco doesn't have a graffiti problem. It has a commitment problem. It isn't enough to get a few residents riled up about neighborhood taggers, or to get the police and district attorney's office…

Like the city of San Francisco, North Beach resident Micki Jones is fighting a losing battle against graffiti.

"I paint it over and it is usually tagged again in 48 hours," said Jones, who covers up graffiti on her home and other buildings on her block. "It used to be weeks, but now those guys are out there every night."

When it comes to symbolic statements about a city, nothing speaks louder than the painted scrawls on walls. They say a neighborhood is either unwilling, or unable, to stop vandalism. Graffiti infuriates homeowners, degrades streets and undercuts civil pride.

And yet it happens over and over in San Francisco and has for years. How is that possible? The answers range from the economic downturn (less enforcement), to a lack of…