Daley: Charge parents for kids' graffiti - Stalled proposal seeks hefty fines
Daley: Charge parents for kids' graffiti - Stalled proposal seeks hefty fines
By Gary Washburn, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Alexa Aguilar and Mickey Ciokajlo contributed to this report
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published June 13, 2007
Mayor Richard Daley had no sympathy Tuesday for parents of youthful graffiti vandals, contending they should be fined for the sins of their children and scoffing at aldermanic inaction on his proposal to hit them in the pocketbook.
"Who should be responsible, the building owner?" Daley asked sarcastically. "The building owner should sue them."
Daley's measure, which stalled in a City Council committee on Monday, calls for smacking parents and guardians of juvenile offenders with fines ranging from $500 to $750.
Daley, first elected in 1989, made the battle against graffiti a top issue early in his mayoralty in an effort to improve the quality of life in city neighborhoods. The battle against unsightly scrawlings enjoyed success for many years, but officials have reported that the tide has taken an unwelcome turn.
The number of cleanups performed by city crews soared last year to 162,635, up from about 107,000 in 2004 and more than 123,000 in 2005, according to city officials. And there is no letup so far in 2007.
Officials say that vandals now increasingly use acids to etch their "art" into plate glass windows of businesses. That requires a costly sand-blasting procedure to take off the top layer of glass.
Streets and Sanitation Department officials report that the city standard of removing painted graffiti from buildings within 10 days of the defacement has slipped to 20 days because of the volume. That is despite the fact that the department has 17 crews that use a forceful baking soda spray to blast scrawlings off buildings and 13 paint crews that cover them over.
The city this year has budgeted about $6 million for the effort.
Members of the council's Police and Fire Committee on Monday questioned whether poor grandmothers raising unruly children should be hit with heavy fines when the youngsters get into trouble with cans of spray paint.
But Daley asserted that "eventually people have to be responsible for their children."
"Why should your son go and break someone's windows and you say, 'I can't do anything about it?' " he said. "It is costing taxpayers more and more money. Don't you think if we prevent them from doing it the second, the third, the fourth, the 50th time we have accomplished something?"
Daley's remarks came at a news conference at which he announced a $5 million economic development grant for Navteq, a high-tech firm, to ensure it remains in the city. The company will use the money to expand into a new headquarters at 100 N. Riverside Plaza.
Ross Petersen, vice president of the Jackson Park Advisory Council, said his neighborhood group constantly fights graffiti that turns up on sculptures, benches and overpasses.
In addition to using markers and spray paint, taggers etch the marble bases of the sculptures, said Petersen, who supports increased penalties. Cleanup crews try to keep up, but some markings have been in place for more than two years, he said.
"It's a quality-of-life issue," he said.
The graffiti problem knows few boundaries.
Los Angeles, for example, spends $7.5 million for its abatement program, said Paul Racs, director of the Office of Community Beautification. The program removes graffiti from private property with the owner's consent as well as from public property such as signs and light poles.
Houston spends about $900,000 a year for graffiti removal, said Officer Jack Hanagriff of the Houston Police Department. The department handles graffiti removal from private property but is able to keep costs down by using probationers who have been sentenced to community service, he said.
Chicago's eradication program is a model that has caught the attention of other cities over the years, said Matt Smith, a Streets and Sanitation Department spokesman. El Paso, Texas, officials who are planning a visit here next week are just the latest who want to see how Chicago does it.
But that doesn't erase the frustration of the problem here. Even the downtown memorial to Vietnam veterans was "tagged" last year, and the County Building was hit recently.
A tagger who operates along Milwaukee Avenue "drives me nuts," said Streets and Sanitation Deputy Commissioner Bobby Richardson. "He takes all my light poles and does clouds with raindrops."
Then there are the vandals who climb to the roofs of one-story buildings to deface taller adjacent structures.
"I call them second-story jobs," Richardson said.
Some of it is gang-related, but most is the product of taggers who do it so their work can be seen, officials said.
Daley, meanwhile, said he is willing to compromise on his proposal for parent and guardian fines. But the sarcasm was still there.
"Make it $5," he said. "After a while, maybe the second or third [offense] or the fourth or 50th... it could be $500."
----------
gwashburn@tribune.com
By Gary Washburn, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Alexa Aguilar and Mickey Ciokajlo contributed to this report
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published June 13, 2007
Mayor Richard Daley had no sympathy Tuesday for parents of youthful graffiti vandals, contending they should be fined for the sins of their children and scoffing at aldermanic inaction on his proposal to hit them in the pocketbook.
"Who should be responsible, the building owner?" Daley asked sarcastically. "The building owner should sue them."
Daley's measure, which stalled in a City Council committee on Monday, calls for smacking parents and guardians of juvenile offenders with fines ranging from $500 to $750.
Daley, first elected in 1989, made the battle against graffiti a top issue early in his mayoralty in an effort to improve the quality of life in city neighborhoods. The battle against unsightly scrawlings enjoyed success for many years, but officials have reported that the tide has taken an unwelcome turn.
The number of cleanups performed by city crews soared last year to 162,635, up from about 107,000 in 2004 and more than 123,000 in 2005, according to city officials. And there is no letup so far in 2007.
Officials say that vandals now increasingly use acids to etch their "art" into plate glass windows of businesses. That requires a costly sand-blasting procedure to take off the top layer of glass.
Streets and Sanitation Department officials report that the city standard of removing painted graffiti from buildings within 10 days of the defacement has slipped to 20 days because of the volume. That is despite the fact that the department has 17 crews that use a forceful baking soda spray to blast scrawlings off buildings and 13 paint crews that cover them over.
The city this year has budgeted about $6 million for the effort.
Members of the council's Police and Fire Committee on Monday questioned whether poor grandmothers raising unruly children should be hit with heavy fines when the youngsters get into trouble with cans of spray paint.
But Daley asserted that "eventually people have to be responsible for their children."
"Why should your son go and break someone's windows and you say, 'I can't do anything about it?' " he said. "It is costing taxpayers more and more money. Don't you think if we prevent them from doing it the second, the third, the fourth, the 50th time we have accomplished something?"
Daley's remarks came at a news conference at which he announced a $5 million economic development grant for Navteq, a high-tech firm, to ensure it remains in the city. The company will use the money to expand into a new headquarters at 100 N. Riverside Plaza.
Ross Petersen, vice president of the Jackson Park Advisory Council, said his neighborhood group constantly fights graffiti that turns up on sculptures, benches and overpasses.
In addition to using markers and spray paint, taggers etch the marble bases of the sculptures, said Petersen, who supports increased penalties. Cleanup crews try to keep up, but some markings have been in place for more than two years, he said.
"It's a quality-of-life issue," he said.
The graffiti problem knows few boundaries.
Los Angeles, for example, spends $7.5 million for its abatement program, said Paul Racs, director of the Office of Community Beautification. The program removes graffiti from private property with the owner's consent as well as from public property such as signs and light poles.
Houston spends about $900,000 a year for graffiti removal, said Officer Jack Hanagriff of the Houston Police Department. The department handles graffiti removal from private property but is able to keep costs down by using probationers who have been sentenced to community service, he said.
Chicago's eradication program is a model that has caught the attention of other cities over the years, said Matt Smith, a Streets and Sanitation Department spokesman. El Paso, Texas, officials who are planning a visit here next week are just the latest who want to see how Chicago does it.
But that doesn't erase the frustration of the problem here. Even the downtown memorial to Vietnam veterans was "tagged" last year, and the County Building was hit recently.
A tagger who operates along Milwaukee Avenue "drives me nuts," said Streets and Sanitation Deputy Commissioner Bobby Richardson. "He takes all my light poles and does clouds with raindrops."
Then there are the vandals who climb to the roofs of one-story buildings to deface taller adjacent structures.
"I call them second-story jobs," Richardson said.
Some of it is gang-related, but most is the product of taggers who do it so their work can be seen, officials said.
Daley, meanwhile, said he is willing to compromise on his proposal for parent and guardian fines. But the sarcasm was still there.
"Make it $5," he said. "After a while, maybe the second or third [offense] or the fourth or 50th... it could be $500."
----------
gwashburn@tribune.com
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