The City Council finds and declares as follows:
(A) Graffiti on public or private property is a condition of blight that not only depreciates the value of property which has been the target of such vandalism, but also depreciates the value of the adjacent and surrounding properties so as to create a negative impact upon the entire community.
(B) Graffiti has been found to be associated with criminal activity and delinquency. It is also a means of identification and intimidation utilized by gangs and its presence may further gang-related activities. The power of graffiti to create fear within the community and blight upon the landscape, devaluing property and detracting from a sense of community enjoyed by the residents of the City of Santa Fe Springs goes beyond the cost of clean-up or removal. Not only is graffiti a criminal act of vandalism, but it is also a social crime upon the quality of life and freedom from intimidation that residents desire in their neighborhoods.
(C) Acts of graffiti are often committed by persons under the age of 18 years using aerosol containers of spray paint, etchants, and/or felt-tip markers. These implements of graffiti are frequently stolen from retail stores by minors, and, as such, retail stores that display and/or sell these implements should be prohibited from selling them to minors and should be required to take reasonable steps to prevent their theft.
(D) Cal. Gov’t Code § 38771 authorizes the city to declare what constitutes a nuisance. Section 53069.3 further authorizes the city, under certain circumstances, to provide for the removal of graffiti and other inscribed materials from private as well as public property. The City Council finds and determines that graffiti is obnoxious and a public nuisance and, unless the city causes it to be removed from public and private property, it tends to remain. Other properties may then become the target of graffiti with the result that the entire neighborhood is affected and becomes a less desirable place in which to live and/or work.
(E) The City of Santa Fe Springs appropriates funds for the removal of graffiti from privately owned real or personal property located within the city. While this public service benefits the entire community, it provides no incentive to private property owners to deal directly with the problem and to formulate their own ideas, solutions, and mitigation measures to avoid being victimized time and time again. The perpetual provision of free graffiti removal services is not an effective deterrent to the escalation of graffiti vandalism and is not a cost effective use of public funds.
(F) It is the purpose and intent of the City Council of Santa Fe Springs, through the adoption of this subchapter, to provide additional enforcement tools to protect public and private property from acts of vandalism and defacement, including the application of graffiti on public and private property, walls, vehicles, and other structures. Such acts are destructive of the rights and values of private property owners as well as of the entire community. It is the further intent of the City Council, through the adoption of this subchapter, to provide notice to all of those who disregard the property rights of others, that the Whittier Police Department and Santa Fe Springs Department of Police Services, Code Enforcement Unit, City Attorney/Prosecutor’s Office, and the District Attorney’s Office, will strictly enforce the law and vigorously prosecute those persons engaging in the defacement of public or private properties.
(Ord. 992, passed 6-26-08)