(A) The city council finds and determines that graffiti is a nuisance and unless it and other inscribed material is removed from public and private properties, it tends to remain, and other properties are then in the target of graffiti with the result that entire neighborhoods and indeed the community is depreciated in value and made a less desirable place to be. The city council therefore determines that it is appropriate that the city develop procedures to implement the provisions of the Revised Statutes of Nebraska, 1943, as amended, and provide for the removal of graffiti and other inscribed material from both public and private property under the circumstances set forth hereinafter.
(B) The city council hereby declares as a matter of legislative determination that:
(1) The increasing incidents of the defacement of public and private property through the application of graffiti upon walls, rocks, bridges, buildings, fences, gates, other structures, trees, and other real and personal property within the corporate boundaries of the city constitute a blight on this community; and, in the interests of the health, safety and general welfare of the residents and taxpayers of the city, immediate steps must be taken to remove this blight.
(2) When appropriate, the courts should require those who commit acts of defacement of public or private property through the application of graffiti to restore the property so defaced, damaged or destroyed.
(3) Obtaining convictions for the application of graffiti is difficult due to the fact that the offense can be committed so very quickly and secretively that witnesses to the act are frequently nonexistent.
(4) The public should be encouraged to cooperate in the elimination of graffiti by reporting to the proper authorities the incidents of the application of graffiti which they observe.
(Ord. 2884, § 1, passed 4-8-1996)