TEMPE, Ariz. — The City of Tempe has finished removing a large graffiti symbol painted on a butte in the Papago Park Preserve, weeks after it was first discovered.

Park rangers spotted the vandalism in mid-August during a routine patrol. The blue circle with a white asterisk, about 10 feet wide, was painted high up on the butte, nearly 30 feet from the ground. City officials initially said the paint would be removed within days, but the work turned out to be more complicated.

“It’s pretty massive. It definitely stands out. It’s in a place where it shouldn’t be, obviously it’s vandalized,” said Alex Jovanovic, deputy community services director for Tempe. “It’s obviously damaging and disrespectful to the people that were there before us.”

On Thursday, contractors with Graffiti Protect

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