City ready to clean up graffiti free of charge

Sep 13, 2007 06:28 PM PDT


CORPUS CHRISTI - The city's new graffiti ordinance will allow the police department to clean up private property that has been tagged by vandals.

But before the work gets underway, there's some paperwork that has to be to be done. In the department's latest program against graffiti. home and business owners can now have tagging removed from their property by the city's new graffiti truck.

But in order to clean private property, the city needs permission, and Officer David Leal was busy getting that approval.

"Okay, Ms. Ybarra, basically what this form is acknowledging that you're giving the department permission to come onto the property at any time to remove graffiti from the building. At no cost, okay?" Leal explained to one apartment manager.

An apartment complex on Antelope Street was the first to give consent for the cleanup, as Officer Leal measured the damage.

Across the street, a vacant warehouse is also a victim of tagging, but with no owner in sight, police left behind a warning.

"We will try and attempt to make contact," Leal said. "If not, then we'll place a notice, which will give them a certain amount of time to remove the graffiti. If not, they could be fined."

To avoid that fine, property owners can contact the city within seven days and sign the written consent form, and while anyone with a graffiti problem is eligible for the cleanup, businesses are jumping at the opportunity first.

"A lot of these neighborhoods are just plagued with graffiti, and people are just tired of it," Leal said. "They're spending their own money to remove graffiti, and the same day or the next week, that graffiti is back up there. This gives them an opportunity for the city to do it at no cost."

The city's new graffiti truck started its cleanup rotation at the beginning of this month, and will move through different parts of the city on a weekly basis.

Anyone with problem with graffiti can find the written consent form on the city's Web site.

Online Reporter: Alex Stivers