SF Supes to Debate Graffiti Crackdown

San Francisco,CA,USA

(KCBS) - Newly-appointed District 7 supervisor Sean Elsbernd has thrown his support behind an anti-graffiti ordinance supported by Gavin Newsom during the mayor’s days as a supervisor.

"It’s an ordinance that’s going to help DPW and property owners take care of graffiti," Elsbernd told KCBS reporter Henry Mulak.

The ordinance would require property owners to clean up graffiti themselves or reimburse the Dept. of Public Works for the clean-up costs.

"If they don’t clean up, then over a period of time we will be able to clean it up ourselves and get reimbursed," said DPW spokesman Mohammed Naru.

The debate over the ordinance now centers on how much time property-owners have to address vandalism on their own before DPW intervenes and sends them a bill.

One proposal would give a property owner only two to three days to remove graffiti while a more lenient proposal would allow a month to elapse.