graffiti advisory board

7/27/2019 Graffiti Advisory Board

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Graffiti Advisory Board Advising the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the GraffitiAdvisory Board was established to review and evaluate the problem

of graffiti in San Francisco neighborhoods and the downtown area.The Advisory Board advises the Board and the Mayor about graffitienforcement, cleanup, and prevention strategies. The Board preparesand submits a report every six months on graffiti as it affectsneighborhoods and downtown San Francisco. The Board is a 25-

member advisory committee including a representative for the Mayor and each of San Francisco’s 11 Supervisorial Districts, seven cityagencies, and one representative for each of the followingstakeholders: youth groups involved in graffiti diversion, non-profitorganizations related to the City’s beautification, businesses, privateor arts schools, and the contracting agency for MUNI shelters.Members of the Graffiti Advisory Board are appointed by the Mayor and Board of Supervisors and meet on the second Thursday of everymonth at 3:30 p.m. (except during the months of July and December) Seven seats were absent during the January 13, 2011 meeting.Arguing that graffiti was increasing, Leonid Nakhodkin (Seat 2)suggested the Graffiti Board change their bylaws so the Board couldbe more effective. In response, the Chair stated that the Board shouldtake action by beginning to implement their strategic plan. Blightincludes everything from dead or decaying trees, weeds, and litter to

unpainted buildings, deteriorating or defaced buildings, and items inan outdoor area which are not usually stored outdoors. Because theCity cannot cover the costs to remove blight from private properties,the burden falls to private property owners to either clean up theblight or face a fine from the City. The Chair reported that noticesposted for Blight had increased. For example, 43 Blight Ordinancenotices were posted in November 2010, and 85 notices were postedin December 2010. From July through December 2010, 334 blightnotices were posted compared to 2009 where only 291 notices wereposted. There was a 14% decrease in public property graffiti. The

Chair also reported that DPW is performing extensive public outreacharound illegal dumping and that outreach staff will be going door todoor in the Bayview distributing an informational mailer to allresidences. Nafiseh Lindberg (Seat 3) told the Board that committee membersand the Chair need to start attending Education Committee meetingsbecause nothing was getting accomplished. Joe Padilla (RecPark)



Burke (DA) presented information on the Neighborhood Court, whichwas seeking volunteer court adjudicators to hear cases and decidethe best ways to resolve them. Organized by the District Attorney’sOffice, Community Courts handle adult offenders charged withmisdemeanor crimes, including graffiti cases and other quality of life

crimes. The Board also listened to an overview of proposed AT&Tcable utility boxes. The SF Planning Department was seeking anexemption from CEQA to place 726 cabinets on San Franciscosidewalks. The boxes are four feet tall and would sit on the sidewalkobstructing the public right of way. The Board recommended that theboxes be installed underground because they are graffiti magnets.Vice-Chair John Bitoff made a motion that the Graffiti Advisory Boardsend a letter to the Board of Supervisors to petition the Departmentof Public Works to mandate that at minimum, AT&T uses an anti-graffiti coating on all of the newly installed boxes. 2,338 work orders

for graffiti on public property were generated in the month of March2011. 666 notices were posted for graffiti on private property in March2011. Nino Parker (Seat 12): “It might be a good idea to connect thesegraffiti coating vendors with our StreetSmART’s murals to get themto do a product demonstration and coat the murals.” 15 seats were absent and 10 present during the May 12, 2011meeting. Three vendors spoke at the meeting about their graffitiproducts. 103 blight reports were approved by the Board of Supervisors recently to recover costs from private property owners

for graffiti abatement under the Blight Ordinance. According toStreetSmART, all 20 murals for this fiscal year were identified and arein development. 14 seats were absent and 11 present during the June 9, 2011 meeting.A Blight presentation was made to the Board of Supervisors on June7th, 2011. The Board members watched a 15 minute video excerptfrom the June 7th BOS meeting where representatives from DPWasked the Board for permission to put liens on private propertyowners who had not paid for the abatement of blight and graffiti fromtheir property. The Board also discussed the efficacy of the Graffiti

Advisory Board and ideas for future policy directions. Membersdiscussed the positive benefits from the meetings, including learningmore about the issues of graffiti vandalism and what the city is doingabout it. The Chair emailed the group about attendance, hoping theycould get 100% of the members present at each meeting. Letters wentout in May to ask all City Departments and community partners to



report graffiti abatement costs. The current total costs are most likelymuch higher than $22 million.

graffiti advisory board

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