Graffiti proposal angers some

Asheville,NC,USA

ASHEVILLE - A new proposal by the Downtown Social Issues Task Force to clean up the city's graffiti has some downtown business owners feeling penalized for the graffiti defacing their buildings.

The recommendations to be voted on Tuesday by City Council include asking property owners downtown to remove graffiti within 48 hours of the vandalism, setting stiffer penalties for vandals and providing additional street police as a deterrent.

Under the proposal, property owners could face a fine of $25 a day if graffiti is not removed.

"The very idea that the property owner is responsible and will be fined is totally absurd," said Patricia Wald, who works downtown in a building defaced by graffiti.

The Downtown Social Issues Task Force, made up of downtown business owners and residents, presented its final report on graffiti last week at a City Council meeting. The proposal met with some criticism from Council members and local business owners.

"I personally feel this goes too far," Councilmen Carl Mumpower said at a City Council meeting last week. "It basically punishes the victims, the people being vandalized."

In conjunction with the proposed regulations, the task force has recommended Quality Forward, a volunteer cleanup group, to work with business owners to help remove graffiti within 48 hours.

"The key element in the proposal is that to really eradicate graffiti it needs to be removed as quickly as possible," said Kim MacQueen, a task force member.

If the proposal passes, downtown property owners should register with Quality Forward to avoid fines, MacQueen said. Under the proposal, property owners have the option to clean their property within 48 hours or contact Quality Forward within 48 hours to clean it for them.

But some people are questioning how sustainable a volunteer group might be.

"It's going to ultimately fall on property owners," Mumpower said.

Quality Forward representative Leslie Huntley said providing volunteers over time would be a challenge, but they are coming into the project with a volunteer base.

"The city may need to help out," said Huntley, who is also a member of the task force.

Removal of graffiti within 48 hours has been proven to be a deterrent to graffiti artists and vandals, the task force said.

Some business owners do not agree.

"Give them 15 minutes, and they will do it again," Wald said. "(The vandals) will take pleasure seeing property owners suffer and spend money to literally cover up their crime."

Some small business owners want to be able to clean up the graffiti on their buildings in their own time, and not have to rely on a volunteer group to do it, said Councilman Jan Davis, who owns a tire store downtown.

"Sometimes the best thing for a property owner to do is to paint an entire wall to cover up graffiti so that there's no problem with the new paint and the old paint matching," said Davis. "I don't expect Quality Forward to paint half my building."

Davis said that if his business were hit with graffiti, he'd want to clean it himself although it might take him a week to get to it.

"I think most small business people prefer to handle their own problems," Davis said.

For some businesses, the cleanup is more complicated.

Wald said she has tried cleaning the graffiti off her building downtown but didn't have any luck.

"We have concrete on the outside of our building," Wald said. "Why would we want to paint a wall that wasn't originally painted?"

Asheville Police Chief Bill Hogan said that cleaning up graffiti could be handled in a number of ways.

"Cleaning it up in 48 hours is important," Hogan said. "But how it is paid for is the issue."

Hogan said it is important that graffiti be removed as soon as possible so it takes the incentive away from the vandal.

"But there are a host of different ways to have the graffiti removed," Hogan said.

The task force's recommendations also include support of the Asheville Mural Project, a program that supports public art murals, as a viable deterrent to graffiti vandalism.

They also proposed that the city add five additional kiosks around downtown in an effort to reduce and concentrate sticker and flyer graffiti.

"People keep asking `what if it doesn't work,'" MacQueen said. "Well, it might not. But what if it does?"

Contact Nash at 232-5953 or LNash@CITIZEN-TIMES.com