Downtown Commission revisits funding bid for anti-graffiti policy

Downtown Commissioners are once again asking City Council to address Austin’s ongoing battle against vandalism, with the hope of seeing funding for a dedicated anti-graffiti task force on the budget this August.

The proposal dates back to March of last year, when commissioners unanimously recommended that the city allocate $2 million toward the creation of a more streamlined abatement process. Failing to gain traction with Council, commissioners say the lack of initiative continues to place a financial burden on homeowners, small businesses and various city departments.

“In 2022, the Parks and Recreation Department spent over $600,000 in their previous funds abating vandalism throughout our parks, and that was still not enough to get the job done,” said Commission Chair August Harris. “The Downtown Austin Alliance spent nearly $100,000 abating vandalism in the Downtown PID alone … and the city’s Building Services Department spent roughly half a million.”

Commissioners say the issue has also been costly to Austin’s right of way, particularly along MoPac Expressway and Interstate 35, where the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority and Texas Department of Transportation report upticks in vandalism over the past year of 129 percent and 46 percent, respectively. The defacing of street signs is a particularly expensive fix thanks to its damage to the signs’ reflective coating, which requires that they be replaced rather than cleaned and repaired.

Commissioners argue the existing protocol for handling vandalism has proved insufficient for handling the problem’s scale. An upfront investment in full-time employees and removal contracts managed by a single department, they say, could both be more proactive and cost-efficient.

“Right now, there is not a structured, cohesive process for taking calls on graffiti. When you call 311, it’s routed to the health department … who has a period of time to evaluate it. If it’s on city property, a city department may deal with it. If it’s on private property, that becomes a whole different matter,” Harris said. “We have been told that unless there is a code violation of another sort, code enforcement will just provide a notice of convenience that your building has been tagged. But I’ve had conversations with code enforcement officers who said they don’t actually do anything at all.”

In addition to enforcement, commissioners hope the funding can be used to conduct community outreach, including partnerships with businesses that sell aerosol paint cans.

“At one point in time, aerosol cans had to be behind cages. … Rather than go to that extreme, one of the suggestions I had was to have the city place signage in front of displays that list the penalties as outlined in state statute,” Harris said. “Perhaps if folks know there can be consequences, and some of them are fairly extreme, they may make another decision, and it would be fairly unobtrusive.”

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