Lynnwood clamping down on graffiti

Getting tough(er) on graffiti

The Lynnwood City Council will review a proposed change to its graffiti enforcement ordinance, along with proposed changes to garbage collection and residential parking rules, at its business meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11 at City Hall, 19100 44th Ave. W.

By Oscar Halpert

Enterprise editor

For some Lynnwood business owners, like Paul Vezetinsky, graffiti has been very expensive.

“I have spent about $1,500 to $1,700 this last year cleaning it up,” said Vezetinsky, owner of airplane parts manufacturer LaFarge &Egge, 5820 188th St. SW.

Lynnwood’s been working to clamp down on perpetrators who annually use spray paint to write all over walls, utility fixtures and highway overpasses around town.

Police say they know the best way to deter graffiti: clean it up as quickly as possible.

“In all cases, the removal of graffiti expeditiously is the best solution for it not recurring by far, it’s been proven,” said Lynnwood police Sgt. T.J. Brooks.

Now, in an effort to ramp up graffiti enforcement, the city is about to consider revising its graffiti regulations. The proposal would require business owners victimized by graffiti to clean it up within five business days (it’s 10 days now) or face fines from $100 for the first infraction to $500 for subsequent offenses, according to a draft of the proposal.

Vezetinsky thinks the proposal’s a little unfair.

“It’s punishing the victim,” he said Aug. 4, adding that he hadn’t read the details about it.

“My feeling as a business owner is, crap, I don’t have the time or money to take care of this,” he said.

Lynnwood Councilman Mark Smith said it’s wrong to characterize the penalties as punishing the victim.

“It’s a false argument,” he said. “If someobody has an accident, we don’t let them leave their car in the middle of the road.”

Still, Vezetinsky said he’s lucky in one respect: a man who lives nearby agreed to monitor his property with a video camera in exchange for being able to park his RV on LaFarge &Egge property.

Brooks, the Lynnwood Police Department’s resident graffiti expert, said he pushed for a change in the city’s graffiti law to clamp down on uncooperative business owners. Vesetinsky doesn’t fit that mold — his company’s been quick to remove graffiti when it happens.

Brooks said smaller businesses are in a better position to quickly remove graffiti than large businesses.

“Generally, the businesses are on board with us,” he said.

Under the proposal, business owners who don’t abate graffiti within the time limit would be responsible for repaying the city for any costs incurred. The city could seek financial compensation in court.

The city of Lynnwood’s approach to taming graffiti has been multi-faceted.

Last year it created Lynnwood Against Graffiti, a removal program that brings together volunteer teams, police and city work crews to combat the problem.

Enforcement efforts have also recently paid off. Earlier this year, nine boys from Lynnwood and Edmonds, members of two different graffiti teams, were forced to pay $5,000 each for their part in a series of graffiti tagging incidents in 2006 and 2007.

Brooks said most graffiti perpetrators are teenage boys ages 13 to 17 but it can often be boys age 12 to men in their early 20s. He said many of them don’t fully understand the seriousness of the offense, which is categorized as malicious mischief.

“What we have to educate these kids and the parents on is that most of them think it’s a misdemeanor crime,” he said. “The fact is, in almost every case, the graffiti reaches the threshold of a felony.”