Sunday morning (Oct. 11th) we posted a Guest Editorial by Jim Branson that scolded the City of Burien for not following its own anti-graffiti ordinance on the “Welcome to Burien” sign in Olde Burien, which still had graffiti on it since being tagged nearly three months ago:
Well, it seems like someone at the city’s been reading The B-Town Blog (shame on you!) – on Monday afternoon (Oct. 12th), BTB Reader Catherine Dupre alerted us that the once-tagged sign was now the recipient of a fresh coat of gray primer paint, obviously in preparation for being re-painted:
Not to toot our own horn too much, but we find the timing of this sudden anti-graffiti fixing a bit more than coincidental.
With that in mind, what else in Burien needs repairing? Please email us suggestions, or Comment below and let’s see what else we can get fixed…
by Jim Branson
Despite the city’s own ordinance against graffiti, the graffiti on this “Welcome to Burien” sign located in Olde Burien has been there for nearly three months.
Here’s a photo that was posted on The B-town Blog on July 19th:
Here’s another photo of the same sign, taken just last week:
Ironically, Burien’s own ordinance (see below or download the PDF here) says it saves money and effort by cleaning up graffiti quickly, before it attracts more graffiti and makes more work.
Why, then, is the City of Burien inviting more vandalism and crime by leaving this graffiti up on its very own sign, in violation of its very own ordinance, which stipulates removal “within 5 days”?
From the City’s municipal code:
CITY OF BURIEN, WASHINGTON ORDINANCE NO. 488
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BURIEN, WASHINGTON, RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF GRAFFITI; AMENDING CHAPTER 8.55 OF THE BURIEN MUNICIPAL CODE; AMENDING THE DEFINITION OF GRAFFITI AND SHORTENING THE TIME PERIOD FOR GRAFFITI REMOV AL; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY, AND ESTABLISHING AN EFFECTIVE DATE
WHEREAS, in 1999 the City Council of the City of Burien adopted Ordinance No. 270 (codified at Chapter 8.55 BMC) establishing new requirements for removal of graffiti found upon public and private property in the City of Burien, and
WHEREAS, the graffiti removal regulations currently provide that all graffiti upon public or private property that is visible from a public road or right of way shall be removed by the property within ten five days of notice given by the City, and
WHREAS, the graffiti removal regulations do not specifically prohibit the use of very hard and sharp objects to etch words, designs, and other markings on glass or other surfaces which is a relatively new type of graffiti, and
WHEREAS, the City finds that, graffiti on fences, walls, glass, buildings and other structures attracts more graffiti and invites additional vandalism and crime; unabated graffiti sends a message that the community is not concerned about the appearance of its business districts and neighborhoods; the presence of graffiti generates neighborhood fear and instability, signals an increase in crime, lowers property values, hurts business revenue, is economically detrimental to the City, and is a sign of urban decay; the National Crime Prevention Council reports that studies have determined that if vandalism and graffiti is repaired or removed within 24 – 48 hours, there is little recurrence; by covering graffiti as soon as possible, the vandal is deprived of the effort and time it took to vandalize or tag property; that expeditious graffiti removal is the best deterrent to future incidents; that a quick removal response by property owners is the key to successfully combating graffiti; unless the City acts to remove graffiti from public and private property, the graffiti tends to remain and other properties then become the target of graffiti; and, entire neighborhoods are affected and become less desirable places in which to be, all to the detriment of the health, safety and welfare of the City and its residents, and
WHEREAS, the Council finds that graffiti is a public nuisance, and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that amending Chapter 8.55 BMC to establish a shorter period to remove graffiti and to prohibit the etching as a form of graffiti will help prevent the spread of graffiti vandalism and will support the City’s program for the prevention and removal of graffiti, and
WHEREAS, the City Council intends, through the adoption of this Ordinance, to provide additional enforcement tools to protect public and private property from acts of graffiti vandalism and defacement, all in support of the general health, safety and welfare of the City and its residents;
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURIEN, WASHINGTON, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Amendment of BMC 8.55.010 (Definitions). Section 8.55.010 of the Burien Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
8.55.010 Definitions.(1) “Graffiti” means the defacing, damaging or destroying by etching, spraying of paint or marking of ink, chalk, dye or other similar substances on public or private buildings, structures, places and properties.
2) “Graffiti abatement procedure” means the abatement procedure which identifies graffiti, issues notice to the landowner to abate the graffiti, and cures in absence of response.
(3) “Private contractor” means any person with whom the city shall have duly contracted to remove graffiti.
Section 2. Amendment of Section 8.55.040 (Graffiti – Notice of removal). Section 8.55.040 of the Burien Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
8.55.040Graffiti – Notice of removal.
(1) Whenever the city manager, or designee, determines that graffiti exists on any public or private buildings, structures, and places which are visible to any person utilizing any public road, parkway, alley, sidewalk or other right-of-way within the city and when weather conditions permit the painting of exterior surfaces, the city manager or designee shall cause a notice to be issued to abate such nuisance. The property owner shall have 10 5 business days after the date of the notice to remove the graffiti or the same will be subject to abatement by the city.
(2) The notice to abate graffiti pursuant to this section shall cause a written notice to be served upon the owner(s) of the affected premises, as such owners’ name and address appears on the last property tax assessment rolls of King County, Washington. If there is no known address for the owner, the notice shall be sent in care of the property address. The notice required by this section may be served in any one of the following manners:
(a) By personal service on the owner, occupant or manager of the property;
(b) By U.S. first class mail, or registered or certified mail addressed to the owner at the last known address of said owner. If this address is unknown, the notice will be sent to the property address.
If notice is served by U.S. first class mail, notice shall be deemed to have been received three (3) days after depositing such notice, postage prepaid, in the United States mail in a properly address envelope.
Section 3. Severability. Should any section, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance, be declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid for any reason, or should any portion of this ordinance be pre-empted by state or federal law or regulation, such decision or pre-emption shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance or its application to other persons or circumstances.
Section 4. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be published in the official newspaper of the City, and shall take effect and be in full force five (5) days after the date of publication.
ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AT A REGULAR MEETING THEREOF ON THE 21ST DAY OF JULY, 2008, AND SIGNED IN AUTHENTICATION OF ITS PASSAGE THIS 21ST DAY OF JULY, 2008.
ATTEST/AUTHENTICATED:
______________________________
Monica Lusk, City Clerk
Approved as to form:
______________________________ Christopher Bacha, Kenyon Disend, PLLC Interim City Attorney
So then…WHEREAS, the City of Burien has chosen to ignore its very own ordinance on its very own property…
THEREFORE whatever shall we, as its residents, do…?
Please take our Poll or Comment below…
Loading ...Previously we reported on vandalism at the new Town Square, and before that at Seahurst Park Beach’s new picnic area, and now BTB Contributor Jim Branson sent us these photos of some recent vandalism in Olde Burien, including graffiti and broken tree limbs:
What’s the deal B-Town peeps? Why are you being so destructive this summer?
Michael Lafreniere, Director of Burien Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services reported Tuesday (July 14th) that three out of four of the “plinth” sculptures installed in Burien’s new Town Square Park just last month were vandalized and damaged over this past weekend.
These are the smaller, more whimsical metallic sculptures that are scattered around the park and mounted on cement pedestals.
Below are before and after photos:
BEFORE (“Hikers“):
AFTER:
BEFORE (“Bike“):
AFTER:
Elements of the sculptures appear to have been broken or sawed off.
The design, fabrication and installation of the sculptures had cost $30,000.
Burien Parks is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the persons responsible for this crime, and cash rewards of up to $1,000 are paid for information leading to an arrest.
Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers immediately at (206) 343-2020 or toll free at 1-800-CRIME-13 and give the tip to police without giving his/her name.
This is the second act of vandalism in a Burien park within the last two weeks – as we reported previously, on June 28th vandals tagged the brand new picnic shelter at Seahurst Park.
Michael Lafreniere, Director of Burien Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services, reports that Seahurst Park’s brand new picnic shelter and other areas were severely vandalized by alleged gang members Sunday night, June 28th.
“Staff tell me this is the worst they have ever seen in all their years with the city,” he adds. “And it will cost us several thousand dollars to clean it up. We are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the persons responsible for this crime.”
Here’s a slideshow of the damage, which includes closeups of graffiti tags and assorted words that may help identify the vandals:
Click to View Slideshow of Damages to Seahurst Park’s New Picnic Shelter
Cash rewards of up to $1,000 are paid for information leading to the arrest. Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers immediately at (206) 343-2020 or toll free at 1 (800) CRIME-13 and give the tip to police without giving his/her name.
According to a story on KOMO News, a Burien woman got so frustrated with Comcast’s lack of response to their graffiti-covered fence that they called the TV station’s “problem solver” hotline.
Marilyn Grinols tried to get a nearby graffiti-covered fence repainted by Comcast, which owns it.
Grinols tried calling the cable giant, only to get the brush-off, telling her they’d “get in touch with a supervisor” which of course they never did, leaving the tagged eyesore untouched.
So she did what every good American would do – she called the “problem solver” at a local TV station, and guess what?
The graffiti was removed within one hour!
And, despite having employees like Ken Schram and John Carlson (a former high school buddy), we tip our hat to KOMO for scaring the bejesus outta Comcast.
Read the full story here.
Recently, some graffiti tagging took place in the usually-pristine Three Tree Point neighborhood. Two taggings were found in the 16500 block of Maplewild Ave SW – one on the recently-completed retaining wall built after the Nisqually quake damage, and another about a block south.
This morning, Ray Helms of Racy’s Property Services was out scrubbing away with his industrial-strength graffiti remover, as seen in the photos below.
According to Helms, these tags are not gang-related: “I clean up a lot of graffiti for the City of Burien, and these tags don’t look gang-related to me. Gangs usually use numbers to mark their turf. This stuff looks like some kids just got bored.”
If you happen to discover some graffiti, the best thing to do is to immediately contact Burien’s Code Enforcement Officer Jim Bibby at (206) 248-5507, or via email at jimb@burienwa.gov.
Keep in mind that the longer the graffiti sits untouched, the tougher it is to remove, so acting fast is the best bet.
