Cincinnati City Council is reconsidering the way the city enforces graffiti abatement on private property.
A Council committee passed a motion Tuesday asking city administration to create a Graffiti Victim Amnesty Program. The motion also requests an ordinace to require people convicted of graffiti violations to work on graffiti removal as part of community service sentencing, and for the Cincinnati Police Department to explore anti-graffiti enforcement options.
Council member Mark Jeffreys introduced the motion.
"[In] the current law, which is an ordinance we passed a few years ago for graffiti that is on private property, we tell the private property owner that they need to remediate it within 30 days," Jeffreys said. "If they don't, then we will do it for them and charge it back to them."
Jeffreys says the cost can be very high, and some property owners have had to address graffiti over and over because taggers keep coming back. He says an amnesty program would give the Department of Buildings and Inspections more discretion in how to address graffiti on private property.
Some are concerned about the idea. Nathan Hess says in his neighborhood, CUF, graffiti was a huge problem a couple years ago. He says the neighborhood worked with the City Manager's office to bring out code inspectors.
"The current policy of having homeowners or property owners responsible for cleaning up the graffiti was very effective for us, and now that same area has almost no graffiti," Hess told Council members during public comment Tuesday. "I'm concerned about getting rid of a process that has served our neighborhood."
Council member Jeff Cramerding said a lot of graffiti is placed on abandoned buildings, or properties managed by out of town landlords who don't maintain their buildings.
"I would be very unwilling to give owners like that a break, that are not taking care of their property," Cramerding said.
Jeffreys says the intention of his motion is to let the Department of Buildings and Inspections decide how to approach each case of graffiti.
"If you're a slumlord ... obviously that is a very different situation than somebody who is just living their life and clearly not causing it," Jeffreys said.
The Public Safety and Quality of Life Committee put the motion on for passage, meaning no roll-call vote.
The motion will be up for a final vote Wednesday. Changes outlined in the motion would require an additional vote via ordinance.
Council is expected to go on summer recess after this week and will meet again during the first week of August.
Read more:
