For years, there have been thousands of tags in NYC untouched because they needed property owners' consent to clean the graffiti. But a recent law that took effect April 7, 2010 has empowered the city to "take the streets back."

The Department of Sanitation runs Graffiti Free NYC, a TAXPAYER-FUNDED program.  Before, when a property was defaced and a 311 complaint filed, Graffiti Free NYC mailed the property owner a waiver and waited and waited for their return before they could do anything about the graffiti.

The new law now assumes that property owners want the graffiti cleaned.  When a 311 complaint is filed, the city will mail the property owner a heads-up. Unless the owner responds within 35 days to say he or she wants to keep the tags, Graffiti Free NYC will blast away.  But this new law will only succeed if residents report graffiti.  In addition, all the store gates that our tax dollars are cleaning now will be replaced in a few years due to a new law  that bans solid store gates.  Thankfully, the store owners will have to pay to replace their gates by law and not the taxpayers.  However, it's a good thing the city decided to spend taxpayer money in the mean time to keep store gates clean until then.

The "Smart Crew", an anti-graffiti group based out of Queens, NY agrees that this new law will finally make our streets safer by giving the impression that the city is back in "control."  As a result, there will be no more crimes committed, EVER (as long as the city continues to spend money on this.)  Each wall cleaned will only cost the taxpayers $5,000 on average based on property damage estimates provided by the NYPD.  With only 20,000+ pending requests at the moment, it amazes us why this law wasn't passed any sooner.  Our tax returns can wait and we are glad that the city is addressing the serious graffiti problem first.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2010/04/12/2010-04-12_slap_in_deface_to_graffiti.html









Fill out a: Forever Graffiti Free Form today!
Find: Pending Graffiti Removal Requests in NYC.

"Report graffiti and make New York City a cleaner and safer place!" - Smart Crew