THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120458
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The City Council wants to require businesses to pay $10 each a year to cover cleaning up graffiti around the city.
Councilman Paul Riddick, owner of Riddick funeral homes, advanced the idea Tuesday as an alternative to the city staff's idea of requiring individual businesses to clean up graffiti on their own property.
The council did not vote on Riddick's plan, but several members said it seemed like a reasonable option. John Keifer, director of public works, said his staff would study the proposal. He said the fee might have to be set higher than $10, though.
The staff's proposal to require businesses to clean up their own graffiti worried some council members. They said small businesses, which might be hit by graffiti artists many times a year, might not be able to afford cleaning up the graffiti.
``A lot of the graffiti is in the most depressed areas of the city,'' Councilman Randy Wright said. ``A business could get hit three, four, five, six times a year.''
With an annual fee, businesses could spread the cleanup costs around the entire city. About 5,000 individual businesses exist in the city, one council member said.
Councilman Mason Andrews said businesses should have some responsibility other than a $10 fee. If a business owner only had to pay a fee, he or she might not work diligently enough to take care of their property.
The proposal for a fee came up during the discussion of an anti-graffiti package that included several requirements. It would hold parents responsible for the costs of cleaning up any graffiti their child made. It also would give courts the option of requiring an adult or minor to clean up graffiti as community service. by CNB