Wonder what to do about graffiti?

Last night at a community meeting (the OMI Neighbors in Action, to be exact), they had two super nice guys (Greg & Larry) from the Department of Public Works (DPW) came to talk about graffiti specifically. I thought the information was really helpful and interesting, so I wanted to share it briefly with all of you! But please check out their site here  for more information including what it costs to abate each year, tips to remove, and efforts to deter taggers by creating murals.

If you see graffiti, call “311″ to report it. They get over 100 graffiti phone complaints a day (wowzers!) but they have a great system around following up in a timely manner.

If it’s on public property, DPW will try to be out within 48 hours.

If it’s on private property, the property owner has 30 days to paint over it (as it is their responsibility). If it’s still there after 30 days, they are served another notice with a 15 day window and about $260 in fines which includes the cost for DPW to paint over it. (more here)

Hardship: DPW does make exceptions for seniors, really low-income folks or adults with disabilities if they are unable to paint over it themselves.

Also, if it’s a gang related tag on any type of property, it’s painted over ASAP by DPW.

Also, if there is graffiti on your property, they highly recommend that you paint over it ASAP, like within a couple days. What they’ve found is that taggers (people that do the graffiti) like to look at their “art” and if they constantly have to re-paint it, eventually they’ll move on. More tips on abatement here.