City cracks down on graffiti victims vandalism

OK, so it's official now: If someone comes by and paints graffiti on your home or business, you have 10 days to get the place cleaned up or you could face a $500 fine from the city. It's part of a graffiti crackdown City Council approved yesterday to go after the people really responsible for the city's vandalism problem: those stupid property owners who put their buildings in the way of hoodlums with spray paint and markers. Uh, no ... we mean the hoodlums themselves. Don't we?

The new ordinance's 10-day cleanup deadline is far shorter than the previous deadline of 30 days, and property owners who don't get things spic and span in a week and a half may now face a $500 fine from the city. That's the bad news. The good news is that victims of tagging can ask the city to paint over the graffiti at no cost. The bad news is that the city won't guarantee a matching color of paint, so you could end up with a very oddly shaped patch of some institutional color of paint (we're picturing gray) slapped across the front of your building. Which, of course, is far better than graffiti.

The new ordinance also includes a ban on the sale of broad-tipped markers and paint sticks to kids under 17, which will complement an existing ban on the sale of spray paint to minors. All these new rules should help get things in order, Councilwoman and anti-graffiti crusader Sue Lovell said: "Now we'll get about arresting the vandals." Yep, it would have been really silly to make that the first step.