City Amends its Graffiti Ordinance

With a big thank-you to several Novato residents who have worked tirelessly to paint over spray-paint vandalism, the Novato City Council approved some amendments to its graffiti abatement ordinance at its Tuesday meeting.

With a 5-0 vote, the council agreed that the ordinance, first approved in 1995, was out of date and needed clarity on penalties, standards for removal, laying out prevention efforts and providing definitions of key words in the ordinance. To read the ordinance, see the attached staff report.

Members of the council specifically thanked volunteers Tom James and Toni Shroyer for coordinating efforts to eradicate graffiti throughout the city.

Chief of Police Joseph Kreins said in February that his force doubled its anti-graffiti efforts after a rise in reported graffiti.

“Zero tolerance is paying off,” Councilwoman Jeanne MacLeamy said.

James, however, said the city could do a better job communicating with the volunteer teams. Assistant City Manager Cathy Capriola said the city is 60 to 90 days away from some important upgrades in communication that should help in that area.

The council members emphasized how important graffiti abatement is for quality of life in Novato.

“I think it’s so important to our town because seeing graffiti is such a negative feeling people get,” Councilwoman Carole Dillon-Knutson said. “It’s such a violation to residents of Novato and a victimization of the property owners.”

Councilwoman Pat Eklund recommended that anyone caught vandalizing a property with graffiti out to be the ones to remove it.  She said the city needs to work with the county courts to make that happen.

The city’s Graffiti Abatement Team began meeting earlier this year and reviewed city policies on graffiti cleanup and tracking, reviewed internal processes and developed plans to address the problem. The plans included making a contact list for people to report graffiti and establishing an e-mail address (graffiti@novato.org) and phone hotline for people to report new graffiti (897-4398).