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On Wednesday morning, City Commissioner Carmen Rubio introduced an amendment to Portland city code this week making it easier to compel negligent private property owners to clean graffiti off their buildings. The City Council unanimously approved the change.
Under the current code, the city must get a warrant from a judge, hire a contractor to paint over long-standing graffiti, then put a lien on the property to recoup the costs, a process that “involves a substantial financial investment from the city without knowing when or whether the funds will be repaid,” according to a memo about the change from Matt Olguin, manager of the city’s graffiti abatement program.
As first reported in this morning’s print edition of WW, Rubio’s change will let graffiti enforcers go to a code hearings officer instead of a judge, streamlining the enforcement process.
“I don’t need to tell Portlanders that the amount of graffiti throughout our city has increased exponentially over the last few years,” Rubio said in a statement. “It takes a lot of time and money to enforce our code through the administrative warrant process. Going forward, I propose the city use an internal process through our hearings officer for the most egregious property owners.”
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which Rubio oversees, has painted over 300,000 square feet of graffiti since October 2022, Olguin said in his memo.
Yet, the problem proliferates, in large part because agencies like the Oregon Department of Transportation have run out of money to paint over tags on state highways (“Spray Anything,” WW, Jan. 31).