AN
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ARTESIA CONCERNING
GRAFFITI,
AMENDING THE ARTESIA MUNICIPAL
CODE
AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF
THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARTESIA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION
1. Chapter
4 of Title 5 of the Artesia Municipal Code is hereby amended in its entirety
to read as follows:
CHAPTER
4
GRAFFITI
5‑4.01.
Graffiti Prevention, Prohibition and Removal: Purpose and Intent. The purpose
of this Section is to help prevent the spread of graffiti and to establish a
program for its removal from public and private property. The spread of
graffiti on both public and private buildings, structures, or places causes
blight within the City which results in a deterioration of property and
business values for adjacent and surrounding properties, all to the detriment
of the City. The City Council finds and determines that graffiti is obnoxious
and a public nuisance which must be abated to avoid the detrimental impact of
graffiti on the City and to prevent the further spread of graffiti. The City
Council further finds that the application of graffiti, as defined in Section
5‑4.02 is willful misconduct which damages or destroys property.
Government Code Section 53069.3 permits the use of City funds to remove
graffiti from public or privately-owned permanent structures located on
public or privately‑owned real property in the City.
5‑4.02.
Definitions.
Aerosol
Paint Container means any aerosol container, regardless of the material from which it is
made, which is adapted or made for the purpose of spraying paint or other
substance capable of defacing property.
Felt
Tip Marker means any indelible marker or similar implement with a tip,
which is greater than one‑eighth (1/8) inch, at its broadest width
containing an ink that is not water soluble.
Graffiti
means any
unauthorized inscription, work, figure, or design that is marked, etched,
scratched, drawn, or painted on any surface of public or private buildings,
structures, and places.
Graffiti
Implement
means an aerosol paint container, a felt tip marker, or a paint stick or
etching tool capable of etching glass, metal, concrete or wood.
Paint
stick or Graffiti
stick means any device containing a solid form of paint, chalk, wax,
epoxy, or other similar substance that is not water soluble and is capable of
being applied to a surface by pressure, and upon application, leaving a mark
at least one‑eighth (1/8) inch in width, visible from a distance of 20
feet.
5‑4.03. Possession of Graffiti
Implements. No person under the age of eighteen years shall have in his or her
possession any graffiti implement, not in a sealed container or package, while
in any public park, public playground, public swimming pool, or public
recreational facility, or in or on any public school or public school grounds,
or upon any public right‑of‑way in the
5‑4.04.
Removal of Graffiti. Graffiti may
be removed by any other following methods:
(a)
Any person applying graffiti within the city shall remove the same within
twenty‑lour (24) hours after notice by the City of the public or private
owner of the property involved. Failure of any person to so remove graffiti
shall constitute a violation of this Section.
(b)
Whenever the City Manager, or his designated representative, determines that
graffiti is so located on public or privately‑owned structures on public
or privately‑owned real property within this City so as to be capable of
being viewed by a person utilizing any public right‑of‑way in this
City, the City Manager, or his designated representative, is authorized to
provide for the removal of the graffiti solely at the City's expense, without
reimbursement from the property owner upon whose property the graffiti has
been applied upon the following conditions:
(1)
In removing the graffiti, the painting and/or repair of an area more extensive
than where the graffiti is located shall not be authorized, except where the
City owns the structure or property and the City Administrator, or his
designee, determines that a more extensive area must be repainted and/or
repaired, or where the private property owner agrees to pay for the costs of
repainting and/or repairing a more extensive area.
(2)
Where a structure is owned by a public entity other than the City, the removal
of the graffiti may be
(3)
When a structure is privately owned, the removal of graffiti by City forces or
by a private contractor under the direction of the City may be authorized only
alter securing the written consent of the owner and release of the City from
liability.
(c)
At the City's option, or if a private property owner's consent cannot be
obtained, graffiti which is located on privately‑owned permanent
structures on privately‑owned real property within the City and which
can be viewed by a person utilizing any public right‑of‑way in the
City may be removed by the City at the owner's expense as a public nuisance
pursuant to the following provisions:
(i)
The City Manager, or his designated representative, shall cause written notice
to be served upon the owner of the affected promises, as such owner's name and
address appears on the last equalized assessment roll, by depositing the
notice in the U.S. Postal Service enclosed in a sealed envelope with
first‑class postage thereon fully prepaid and by recording a notice of
abatement against the property. The mailed notice shall be certified and
addressed to the owner as stated above, and if there is no known address, then
in care of the property
address. Service shall be complete at the time
of deposit in the U.S. Postal Service. The failure of any person to receive
such notice shall not affect the validity of any proceeding hereunder.
The owner shall. have five (5) days after the date of service of the
notice to remove the graffiti or be subject to City removal of the graffiti
and assessment of the costs of such removal as a lien on the subject property.
The
notice shall be on City letterhead in substantially the following form:
NOTICE
OF INTENT TO REMOVE GRAFFITI
NOTICE
IS HEREBY GIVEN that you are required at your expense to remove or paint over
the graffiti located on the property commonly known as California, which is
visible to public view, within five (5) days after the date of this notice.
The graffiti is visible to public view and, therefore, constitutes a public
nuisance. If you fail to comply with this order, City employees, or private
City contractors, will enter upon your property and abate the public nuisance
by the removal or painting over the graffiti. The cost of the abatement by the
City employees, or its private contractors, will be assessed upon your
property and such costs will constitute a lien upon the land until paid.
All
persons having any objections to, or interest in, said matters may file within
five (5) days from the date of this notice a written appeal to the City
Manager stating the reasons the appellant believes that the City should not
abate the graffiti.
Unless
an appeal is filed with the City Manager, or the graffiti is otherwise abated,
the City will proceed with the abatement of the graffiti on your property at
your expense without further notice at the conclusion of this five (5) day
period.
(3)
Service of the intent to abate graffiti notice shall be made on the day the
notice is dated and by affidavit, the original of which shall be filed with
the City Clerk.
(4) If an appeal is timely filed, the City Manager,
or his designee, shall hold a hearing on the objections to the abatement. If
the City Manager finds that the graffiti is not visible to persons using the
public streets, the City Manager shall grant the appeal: otherwise the City
Manager shall deny the appeal. Mailed notice of the City Managers decision
shall be given as provided in Subsection (2) for mailed notice of the Notice
of Intent to Abate Graffiti. If the City Manager denies the appeal, the
property owner shall have five (5) days from the date the City Manager gave
notice of the decision to abate the graffiti. The City Managers decision shall
be final.
(5)
If no appeal is filed, or if the appeal is denied following hearing, and if
the owner fails to remove or fails to cause the graffiti to be removed by the
designated date, or such continued date thereafter
as the City Manager, or his designated representative, approves, then the City
Manager, or is representative, shall cause the graffiti to be abated by City
forces or private contract, and the City, or its private contractor, is
expressly authorized to enter upon the premises for such purposes after
obtaining a warrant authorizing the abatement.
(6)
Should the City be required to abate the graffiti, the City shall thereafter
follow the procedures set forth in sections 5‑10.04 through
5‑10.06 regarding recovery costs of abatement. The notice of lien for
purposes of this Subsection shall be in substantially the following form:
NOTICE
OF LIEN
(Claim
of the City of Artesia)
Pursuant to Government Code Section 38773 and Section 5‑4.05 of the
Artesia Municipal Code, the City of Artesia did on
or
about the day of _____________, 19_, cause the
painting over or removal of graffiti at the premises hereinafter described to
abate a public nuisance on said real property; and the City did on the
_______________ day of ____________, 19___
assess the cost of such abatement upon the real property hereinafter
described: and the same has not been paid, nor any part thereof: and that said
City of Artesia does hereby claim a
lien
for such costs of abatement in the amount of said assessment, to wit: the sum of
_________________ dollars: and the sage
shall
be a lien upon said real property until the same has been paid in full and
discharged of record.
The
real property hereinbefore mentioned, and upon which a lien is claimed, is that
certain parcel of land lying and being in the City of Artesia, County of Los
Angeles, State of California and particularly as follows:
5‑4.05.
Reward. Pursuant to Government Code Section 53069.5, the City Council may, by
resolution, establish a reward for information leading to the identification,
apprehension, or conviction or any person who places graffiti upon any public or
private property in the City. In the event of damage to public property, said
resolution may require that the convicted offender reimburse the City for any
reward paid, and may place responsibility for reimbursement of such reward upon
the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of any person under the age of eighteen years
so convicted.
5‑4.06
Storage and Display of Graffiti Implements. Any person who owns, conducts,
operates, manages or carries on any business, company, shop or retail commercial
enterprise including, without limitation any swap meet or garage sale, which
sells graffiti implements shall cause such graffiti implements to be stored,
maintained or displayed in a place or manner which is locked or secured so as
not to be accessible to the public except with the assistance of the seller or
the seller's employees.
5‑a.07
Sale or Transfer of Graffiti Implements. No person, firm or corporation shall
sell or in any furnish to any person under the age of eighteen years any
graffiti implement. This section shell not apply to any potent or legal guardian
of such person under age of eighteen, nor to an employee of any bona tide
educational institution in connection with school activities.
SECTION
2.The City of Artesia is experiencing an onslaught of graffiti which is creating
a blighted condition
PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this 12th day of April,
1993.