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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/06/2009 05A Draft Minutes 10-28-2008 Adjourned Meeting/Study Session4f' -/ I • YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED MEETING / STUDY SESSION OCTOBER 28, 2008 - 8:00 - 9:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - YAKIMA CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Dave Edler, presiding, Assistant Mayor Micah Cawley, Council Members Kathy Coffey, Rick Ensey, Norm Johnson, Bill Lover and Neil McClure Staff: City Manager Zais, Acting City Attorney Cutter, and City Cleric Moore. 2. Yakima graffiti program abatement and enforcement activities Bill Cook, Director of Community and Economic Development, listed two objectives of the study session: 1) Give the current status of anti - graffiti activities 2) Discuss what is being done in other communities Mr. Cook gave a PowerPoint presentation: Data obtained from the City of San Antonio's web page puts graffiti in perspective; • It costs America more than 8 billion per year to clean up graffiti. • It is a misperception that most graffiti is done by gangs. • Graffiti vandals represent all social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. • Suburban males commit approximately 50% of graffiti vandalism (pre -teen to early 20's) • Primary motivating factors are fame, rebellion, self- expression, and power. Following are the various divisions involved with the graffiti problem: Code Enforcement responds to complaints received over the hotline. Those complaints are referred to ONDS. Complaints about substandard or boarded -up vacant buildings go to the Community Review Board (CRB). Only about 17 FTEs of the Codes staffing actually goes into graffiti cases. Between the years 2003- 2007, there were 1,241 graffiti complaints with only one citation issued.. How do we improve our success? Separating the graffiti element and handling them with citations may speed up the CRB process. • STUDY SESSION - GRAFFITI OCTOBER 28, 2008. • Office of Neighborhood Development Services receives many of the complaints. They paint over graffiti using donated paint. They provide permission slips, maintenance equipment, and vehicles for volunteers. They work primarily on residential property in low and moderate - income neighborhoods. In 2008, ONDS spent approximately $2,000 on materials, and about 9,600 total hours (largely volunteer). There is only one FTE to supervise the volunteer crews. The level of graffiti in the community is not decreasing, however, ONDS appears to be responding more quickly than in the past. The patch method is not an ideal solution but is economical. Property owners are getting frustrated with repeat incidences and are less likely to take care of their own property. To improve the success of the graffiti situation, we need to reinforce the responsibility of the property owner to paint over the graffiti and concentrate volunteer labor on city alleys. Public Works removes graffiti from parks, bus stops, street signs, signals, and refuse bins using approximately 4,900 man hours and $22,000 annually. This is a responsive, proactive effort. The Police Department provides alternatives to gang involvement, handles graffiti enforcement in cases of crimes in progress, investigates graffiti cases, and oversees trustees that paint out graffiti utilizing a $10,000 grant (expires in 2009). Gang graffiti is on the decline, but tagging is rising. Improving success would require changing state law to allow more aggressive prosecution and tougher sentencing, reopening the County graffiti pod, continuing to use trustees to paint out graffiti and finding a new funding source to replace the $10,000 grant. The Legal Department prosecutes all criminal and contested civil infraction graffiti - related code violations. Convictions are being obtained, but defendants are not paying restitution or completing court ordered community service hours. To improve success would require amending state law to establish parental responsibility for juvenile offenders and a better tracking system to report the outcome of prosecution efforts. The Citv's current total cost for manaoina araffiti Cash in 2008 $45,069 No. of Personnel 3.1 FTEs (component of time) DOC crew 8 person crew Volunteers 5 per day Total estimated hours 17,282 What more can be done? Operational: Better tracking system Graffiti protection added to capital budgets Provide paint, not labor ONDS focus on alleys • 2 • C7 STUDY SESSION - GRAFFITI OCTOBER 28, 2008 Permanent assignment of people, equipment, to clean public right -of -way and buildings Enforcement: Greater control of paint sales Advertise successful arrests and prosecutions Hotline and reward program Prosecution: Hold parents responsible Make graffiti a victimless crime Amend state law on sentencing Education: Expand community education programs Funding: Identify and establish a new, dedicated revenue source to support all activities for graffiti prevention, abatement, enforcement, education, etc. Michael Morales, Deputy Director of Community and Economic Development, pointed out that although some of the suggestions look simple, they have substantial costs. It becomes an investment decision. For capital projects, they are now looking at the surfaces included to make sure graffiti protection is included in the bid specs. Mr. Morales also pointed out the trend of the public to expect the City to respond to graffiti problems and no longer paint it out themselves. Graffiti abatement on private property needs to be put back into the hands of property owners or residents. With the City looking from the perspective of an owner of property, to protect taxpayers' investment it will take permanently assigning people, equipment and resources to clean public rights -of -way, buildings, facilities and surfaces. It is estimated that would cost $160,000 a year. Enforcement Chief Granato noted that a recent survey found many businesses were out of compliance with the current graffiti ordinances and paint sales were not being monitored. This included Wal -Mart, Home Depot, places with high volume sales of spray paint. With instruction, compliance went up. He noted that other cities have had some success when they advertised the arrests of people involved in graffiti. Some have 'a hot line /reward program offering $100 to anyone who calls in information on taggers that leads to arrest and successful prosecution. These are areas we can consider when looking for more that can be done. STUDY SESSION - GRAFFITI OCTOBER 28, 2008 Prosecution Cynthia Martinez, Assistant City Attorney, listed three ideas for improvement: 1) Hold parents responsible. This is more of a policy decision on whether we want to hold parents financially responsible or give them the tools to help them deal with their children. 2) Make graffiti a victimless crime. She did not support this item as it removes the judge's ability to order restitution upon conviction. 3) Amend state law on sentencing. It is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine if the damage is under $250. Ron Zirkle, County Prosecutor, Ken Ramm, Chief Criminal Deputy, and Jared Boswell, Supervisor of Juvenile Prosecution Unit, gave information on cases for 2008. Since the first of this year, there were 71 juvenile cases filed coming from the City of Yakima with 30 convictions, 17 cases diverted, 11 cases pending, and 8 dismissed because the juvenile pled to other charges. Only 5 out of the 71 cases were not filed. They felt emphasis should be on diversion. Statistics were reviewed with regard to the graffiti pod at Juvenile. During the period of August 2007 to August 2008, the County spent approximately $320,000 to operate. One hundred seventeen cases were received from all law enforcement agencies within the county equating to approximately $2,500 per juvenile. That is not financially effective. Education Mike Morrisette, Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern about an ordinance that would prohibit the sale of spray paint in retail stores. He suggested the potential of launching a major emphasis campaign with businesses and private homeowners and provide a "you can" approach. It could offer options such as contracting clean up to a private service provider at a discount or doing it themselves with the City providing paint and supplies. Carol Holton spoke about the need to make sure our youth know that there are alternatives to expressing themselves. She suggested more block watches to increase the eyes in the community to help locate the offenders. Funding Mr. Cook pointed out that we have a coordinated, multi - departmental approach and . are handling all of the elements, but there is always more that could be done. If new elements are needed and they cost money, something else will have to be eliminated. Judge Susan Woodard, Municipal Court, clarified that it is not community service but community restitution that is ordered. Although the biggest hammer is more jail time, she would like to see a coordinated effort. She suggested, as part of the - incarceration for the offense, include driving them to a scene of graffiti and supervise them while they remove it_ n r� • • STUDY SESSION - GRAFFITI OCTOBER 28, 2008 • Sean Hawkins, CDY, suggested it is time to train property owners on how to property remove graffiti. Tarin Miller, Police Officer, raised an issue with regard to holding parents responsible. She advised that it is hard to catch the juveniles tagging, so they go to the home trying to match different signatures. They must have the parent's help to do that. If the parents are going to be held responsible for everything, they may discontinue that help. She commented that the graffiti pod was beneficial because offenders have stated it was an immediate consequence for them. Nathan Quack, Graffiti Gone, gave a presentation of his company's estimates on actual graffiti, and their proposal to abate it. Linda lasella spoke in support of the diversion program and also recommended parent counseling programs. During Council discussion, the cost of repellants was raised as well as the need for more sophisticated equipment and techniques, the status of graffiti cameras and the ability of the diversion programs to handle more offenders.' It was suggested that alleys could have a standard color to make it easier and more cost effective to paint out. 3. Audience comments 19 None is 4. Adjoumment CAWLEY MOVED AND ENSEY SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO NOVEMBER 4, 2008 AT 8:30 A.M. FOR COUNCIL BUDGET REVIEW, THEN TO 2:00 P.M. FOR COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjoumed at 9:45 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY ATTEST: CITY CLERK COUNCIL MEMBER DATE COUNCIL MEMBER DA DAVID EDLER, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office. 5