• Originally published April 14, 2009 at 7:21 p.m., updated July 15, 2009 at 4:40 p.m.

• Have a question for 'Watchdog'?

  To submit questions, e-mail watchdog@vicad.com or call Advocate Public Service Editor Gabe Semenza at 361-580-6519. No topic is off-limits.

From a public street, I spotted mass graffiti on the east side of the Regional Ambulances Service building, a private business at 702 Hiller St.

What I then learned revealed a hole in city ordinance.

The city fails to require residents to clean or cover graffiti that appears on private property. The city also lacks a budget and policy for removing the eyesores from public property. The city's code enforcement staff can't cite anyone for unsightly graffiti.

That's one reason why graffiti remains on the Hiller Street building more than two years after it first appeared.

"We could take it off, but then the next gang's going to come up and put it right back on," said Gussie Stafford-Felps, the business owner. "All we'd do is paint and be forced to paint again."

Stafford-Felps said she's tried to clean the graffiti, but to no avail. The cost of painting an all-brick building, and simply painting over the brick, also concerns her, she said.

To understand the city's role in removing public graffiti, I called Doug Cochran, director of the parks and recreation department. His crew cleans graffiti from most public places.

"If there's someone's name or curse words, we try to remove those immediately," Cochran said. "We do it as needed when our staff finds something out there during our normal routine. It's a manpower issue. I don't have a crew dedicated to removing graffiti."

Cochran's crew isn't allowed to remove graffiti from private property. What surprised me, though, is the department charged with removing public graffiti lacks a policy for how and when to do so. Graffiti removal costs don't appear on any city budget.

Additionally, Cochran's team doesn't track how much is spent each year to remove the nuisances, he said, or even how many times they do so.

In Cochran's defense, there is no city ordinance or guidelines for him to follow.

A Hiller Street homeowner said he reported the ambulance services building graffiti to police.

Detective Thomas Eisman said Victoria police investigate graffiti when property owners report cases of vandalism. Eisman can't make homeowners or business owners remove graffiti, though.

"If there's no city ordinance to compel someone to take action, we can't force them to," he said.

Why doesn't the city have a graffiti ordinance? Other Texas cities such as Corpus Christi and Fort Worth do. I called City Councilman Tom Halepaska.

"Most city's rely upon the ordinances that are on the books," Halepaska said. "I'm reluctant to take on one more burden. Should we just outlaw jerks? Every ordinance is aimed at outlawing some jerk. You tell me who has solved it and we'll follow their lead. You can blow a lot of money and not be effective."

Corpus Christi city council deemed graffiti alarming enough to devote a 1,924-word ordinance to it. The ordinance works to help prevent the spread of such vandalism, and to systematically remove it from public and private places.

"Unless the city acts to remove graffiti from public and private property, the graffiti tends to remain. Other properties then become the target of graffiti, and entire neighborhoods are infected and become less desirable places in which to live and support families," the ordinance notes. "Graffiti erodes property values which reduces critical tax base. Graffiti intimidates citizens and promotes a lawbreaking environment."

To combat the city's graffiti, the ordinance:

Requires residents to remove graffiti from private property, or pay fines.

Provides public information on free and restitutional graffiti removal programs and on contractors who perform removal services.

Coordinates governmental and volunteer graffiti removal programs via the formation of a task force made of community stakeholders.

I have questions for Diana McQueen, the Corpus Christi graffiti program coordinator. Unfortunately, she was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

I want to know:

What year did the council pass the ordinance?

Is the program effective? Is that supported with data?

How much does the ordinance cost the city?

I plan to follow up in a story or in my next column with answers to those questions. For now, passing a similar ordinance here is a solid option to at least debate, no doubt.

As for Stafford-Felps, owner of Regional Ambulances Service, she promises to cover her building's graffiti.

"I'll paint over it, but it's going to mess up our brick. I'll have to paint the whole building," she said. "But if they do it again, and I guarantee they will, I'm not going to repaint. That's another costly expense."

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• 15 Comments
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •