NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to make it easier for property owners to deal with graffiti. The Mayor and the City Council are working on new legislation that would place the graffiti removal process with the city.
This new legislation would allow the city to remove graffiti on a property without permission from the owner, unless the owner specifically says otherwise.
City Making it Easier to Rid Graffiti
NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to make it easier for property owners to deal with graffiti. The Mayor and the City Council are working on new legislation that would place the graffiti removal process with the city.
This new legislation would allow the city to remove graffiti on a property without permission from the owner, unless the owner specifically says otherwise.
Currently, if you want want to get rid of that graffiti where you live and work; just Follow these steps and the city will get it removed in the next cleanup. You do not need to own the building to make the complaint.
Fresh graffiti (from the past year): Call 311 and let them know that you would like to report graffiti to your local police department; you can remain anonymous as long as you don’t want a police report. You can also request a police report in which case you cannot remain anonymous. The police will then go to that location and take pictures to add it to their graffiti database, so that when they do catch the individual who made the graffiti, they are able to charge that person for all the locations. The police department will then pass the location on to Graffiti Free NY to clean the graffiti.
Older graffiti (more than a year old): Call 311 and request a “non-owner graffiti removal request”. This will not go to the police department, rather it will be sent directly to Graffiti Free NY to be cleaned in the next cleanup. You can request to remain anonymous.
So far in 2009, the cities graffiti removal team “Graffiti Free NYC” has cleaned an estimated 2 and a half million square feet of space at nearly 4,000 sites.
Stop Graffiti Today
This is all great on paper, however the police are only interested in making arrests, and even then as we all know, less so with minors, who commit 99% of all Graffiti related offences. I have for years endeavored to establish a Graffiti task force with the police and had the buck passed to no end.
As to 311, well keep calling, and you’ll get on a list, and maybe in a year or so, the graffiti will be removed or painted over(mostly). By that time of course there will be more and you can start the process all over again.
Property owners need to rake some responsibility. If you keep painting, or removing the graffiti when it happens, those doing the damage will give up that spot eventually. If you let it go, it spreads to other property. These kids put this up to be seen, if it disappears, they’ll find someplace else. This is all proven theory.
Don’t rely on the police, except for racist and gang related graffiti, it’s beyond low priority for them. Don’t rely on the city, like everything else, you’ll wait forever.
Do it yourself, ask a neighbor for help. Keeping the neighborhood graffiti free is really up to you.
chaim
according to these numbers the average graffiti is 25’x25′.
I think that is rather large.
wow
powerful stuff they got there..
Graffitti ruins New York
AWESOME!!! Graffitti ruins New York Sophisticated look and turns it into a slum town look.
Short sleeves
Not Tznius at 00:07
This is the real problem in crown heights!