Merchants May Pay the Price for Graffiti Removal Plan : Crime: Under the proposed ordinance, the city would remove the vandalism twice for free but then bill property owners for every subsequent paint job.

An expensive graffiti problem has prompted city officials to consider making property owners pay the costs of cleaning up their own defaced businesses.

Under a proposed ordinance, city crews would remove graffiti twice for free, but then bill property owners for every subsequent paint job. Property owners would have the option of removing the graffiti themselves, but one way or another, the graffiti would have to go, according to the proposal.

The proposed ordinance is one of the sterner, more unusual anti-graffiti efforts because it would impose financial responsibility on victims of the vandalism, officials said.

“We have to change the attitude that it’s only the city’s responsibility for eradicating graffiti,” Councilman Allan Zolnekoff said. “What the ordinance does is make owners of certain buildings that are notorious for repeatedly having graffiti responsible. And it’s also a cost-saving measure.”

The city of 78,000 residents spends about $90,000 a year to paint over graffiti. Currently, public works provides the service free. Residents and merchants can call the city’s graffiti hot line and expect to have the markings removed in hours, officials said.

Hard-hit areas include Lambert Road, from Calmada Avenue to 1st Avenue, and the businesses along Whittier Boulevard, which crosses the southern portion of the city. The city’s central shopping district, known as Uptown, has also been targeted.

Under the proposed ordinance, the city would remove graffiti without charge only twice, until a building changes ownership. Then the new owner would also get two free graffiti removals. After that, a property owner would have three days to remove subsequent graffiti. The owner could make private arrangements or pay the city to do it.

If the owner does nothing, the city would do the work and send a bill. A 15- to 20-minute job would cost $30. For work lasting 20 minutes to an hour, the cost would be $100. Jobs lasting more than an hour would cost $130.

Each time the city returns, the fee would rise. The charge would increase by 50% of the original cost on each successive job. In other words, a $100 job would cost $150 the next time and $200 the following time.

Unpaid bills could be appealed to the City Council. Unless the council relents, however, the debt would be added to a property’s tax bill. The unpaid tax would become a lien on the property.

Local merchants said the city has no right to punish them for being crime victims.

“I can’t control these taggers or whoever’s doing it,” said Jeff Toy, who owns a Round Table Pizza franchise. “And for me to be fined because someone comes around at 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning with a can of spray paint in their pocket and does it. . . . Why would I be fined for that? I don’t understand.”

Toy said better street lighting would discourage the vandals as well as increased community watch efforts. He added that his store is an easy mark because bushes in the adjacent alley concealed taggers from the street.

A merchant who rents space for his thrift store said he liked the ordinance as long as its costs are not passed along to tenants.

“It would make sense to fine the property owner,” said the merchant, who asked not to be named. “We pay a maintenance fee. If they’re allowed to charge a maintenance fee, they should take care of the property.”

He added that both his store and truck have been the targets of graffiti.

A two-person city crew works full time to remove graffiti; other city workers are available to help as needed. A typical day means 25 paint jobs and as much as 25 gallons of paint, said Cesar Tenorio, graffiti abatement supervisor.

The graffiti is the product of both organized gangs and taggers--individuals or groups who paint their names or logos on any surface within reach of a spray can.

“The gangs write filthy language, and the taggers write their names,” Tenorio said. “Some do art and they make real nice letters. They’re good graphic designers. Some of them draw real good.”

But graffiti of any kind is costly and the problem is getting worse, Tenorio said.

“They don’t have a specific target, they hit everything,” he said. “They’re not respecting any place. . . We have a lot of taggers, about maybe 19 or 20 groups.”

Councilman Zolnekoff said the proposed ordinance is one of several city initiatives to bring graffiti under control. The city’s new design standards, for instance, include provisions encouraging developers to avoid building blank walls or other easy targets.

Developers, for example, could use wrought iron for fencing instead of cement block. Parking lot borders could be defined by grassy berms instead of walls. And vines could cover blank walls. The city council could theoretically deny permits to developers who don’t comply.

The city also recently delivered refrigerator magnets with its graffiti hot line number to every residence. The idea is to get graffiti reported quickly, so it can also be removed without delay.

Along with the proposed ordinance, officials are considering offering a reward--as much as $500--for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a graffiti vandal.

Such awards have had limited success in nearby cities surveyed by Whittier officials. Santa Fe Springs, for example, has paid two rewards since 1980. That city has budgeted $200,000 this year for graffiti removal. Downey, with a $73,000 graffiti-removal budget, has delivered one reward since its program began in June, 1990.

The property-owner penalty is unique among cities surveyed by Whittier. Officials in Long Beach and Los Angeles said their ordinances also permit them to bill property owners, but that authority is mainly a deterrent to landlord inaction. Each city has programs to remove graffiti without charge on request, officials said.

Whittier staff members stressed that the wording of the ordinance is not final. Council members are expected to discuss possible modifications at their Jan. 12 meeting.

“We want to make sure we’re not doing anything to prohibit anybody from making their living,” Councilman Michael Sullens said. “At the same time we’ve got to look at keeping the city up. And if we let it go, we’re running away business. In the long run, everyone will benefit from removing graffiti.”