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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7989 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No.7989 x eTo the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 26, 1996 Subject: Graffiti Abatement Program On January 18-19, 1996 the City sent a representative from the Parks and Community Services Department to Phoenix, Arizona to review that City's graffiti abatement program first hand. The City of Phoenix and the City of Fort Worth graffiti programs are similar in many ways. Both Cities have developed anti-graffiti ordinances, graffiti hotlines offering cash rewards, paint banks, involvement of Citizens on Patrol groups, and the provision of city funded assistance to vandalized property owners (assistance being paint and labor and soda or sand blasting using high pressure water). Despite these similarities there exist some distinctive differences between the two programs. While both Fort Worth and Phoenix have an anti-graffiti ordinance, the Phoenix ordinance addresses several other issues associated with graffiti including the manner in which paint is displayed, requiring businesses to display in a manner that is not readily accessible to the public. This portion of the ordinance is aggressively enforced and supported by the retail community in Phoenix. Police interviews with arrested Taggers have revealed that this portion of ordinance has significantly impacted the Taggers' ability to "rack" (steal) paint, Some have confessed that they are having to buy the paint for their "work". The Phoenix ordinance also addresses possession of graffiti paraphernalia making possession of such illegal when on private property. The Phoenix Program entitled "Graffiti Busters" has a staff of 11 and an annual budget of $800,000.00. This budget allows the Graffiti Busters to purchase 24,000 gallons of paint per year, supports 4 crews with two employees each and $76,800.00 for temporary employees to assist with graffiti abatements throughout the city. Each of the crews is equipped with a truck, an airless paint sprayer, and a 100 gallon water tank for a high pressure power washer which can be used to remove graffiti from masonry surfaces. The Phoenix Graffiti Program also provides sixteen (16) airless paint sprayers, two sprayers in each of the eight(8) City Council Districts. These are distributed through the Parks, Recreation and Library Department. Before a resident may use these machines they must be trained and certified. When the certification is complete, the resident is given an identification card by Graffiti Program personnel. The Graffiti Busters Program has recently begun a new pilot program that utilizes a computerized paint matching system which is capable of near perfect paint matching. The system is being used along select major street corridors of Community Development Block Grant areas. The Paint matching system, which costs $25,000.00 consists of a dot matrix printer, lap top computer, mobile spectrophotometer system and software. OFFICIAL RIC(IRID CITY SECRETARY FIT'S WORTH, TEL ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS ° INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS NO. 7989 . .... To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 26, 1996 J-&X Subject: Graffiti Abatement Program The City of Phoenix in association with its Graffiti Hotline has a police squad dedicated to investigation of leads received from the hotline. The squad is made up of three detectives and one clerk. This group which has a budget of approximately $175,000.00, has made 287 arrests since its inception resulting in 160 convictions to date. The County Attorney, who has committed to assuming all the graffiti related prosecutions, currently has a substantial backlog as result of the success of the hotline. According to Police Department representatives, the City of Phoenix has witnessed a 70% reduction in graffiti throughout the city. The hub of the Phoenix program is the involvement of its residents. The City has more that 400 organized neighborhood groups that are involved in graffiti abatement in their respective neighborhoods on a very regular basis. The single most impressive fact from this visit was the residents' involvement in working to keep their neighborhoods from deteriorating. A cooperation between the Graffiti Busters, the Police and Judicial system and the citizens of the community has allowed the City of Phoenix to attain the upper hand on their graffiti problem. By comparison the City of Fort Worth graffiti abatement budget totals $129,535.00. The level of support provided by the City departments is summarized as follows: Department Amount Service Descriptio Parks & Community $59,577.00 Operation of abatement program Service & management of paint bank City Services $13,458.00 Ordinance enforcement and notification of property owners Transportation & Public Works $56,500.00 Abatement on City property The Transportation & Plublic Works Department's resources were not specifically appropriated for graffiti abatement, however this resource utilization has evolved through time. In addition, the Police Department, through its community policing efforts provides support through coordination of Citizens on Patrol groups in addressing graffiti abatement through volunteerism. A more expansive enforcement and abatement proposal is currently under consideration by the Crime Control & Prevention District Board. The proposal, which totals $467,651.00, would underwrite the following: 10 r, OFFICIAL REI`1`00 CITY SECRETARY ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS NO. 7989 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 26, 1996 3 of 3 Subject: Graffiti Abatement Program ■ 8 police officers, 2 in each field operations division to address enforcement, related supplies and leased vehicles $265,125.00 (assumes 8 months expenditures; annual cost is $396,888.00). ■ 2 full-time employees in the Parks and Community Services Department, related supplies equipment $54,526.00. (assumes 8 months expenditures; annual cost is $59,577.00) ■ 8 handheld radios and 4 surveillance cameras $48,000.00 (one time cost). ■ Contractual services to abate graffiti on public and private property $100,000.00 (annually) This report is being provided for the City Council's information. Staff is in the process of evaluating our current graffiti abatement program, including the ordinances, abatement and enforcement initiatives and resources to determine if some of the Phoenix program initiatives can be incorporated. Should you have any questions regarding this matter please let me know, or call Assistant City Manager Libby Watson. Bob"Terr l 13 on Bb City Manager RECORD CITY SECRETARY FT. WORTHRI '11XK ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS