(The Center Square) – Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison has introduced legislation to combat ongoing illegal graffiti tagging across the city that costs taxpayers an estimated $6 million annually.
Proposed Council Bill 120995 would allow the City Attorney’s Office to authorize a civil $1,000 fine per illegal graffiti violation and add other tools to deter property crimes, plus restitution for labor and material costs to abate the damage.
The bill also allows monetary damages and restitution to be converted to community service doing graffiti abatement work.
According to Davison’s office, there were a reported 28,816 instances of graffiti vandalism in Seattle that resulted in the city spending approximately $6 million in tax dollars annually on graffiti cleanup.
“I would guess that this is not money that you would like to spend in this capacity, but it would be easier if people would just simply comply with the law and not damage other peoples’ properties,” Davison said to the Seattle Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
The number of referrals for graffiti prosecution that Davison’s office has seen has dropped from 73 in 2017 to a low of 33 in 2021. Despite this decrease, the city continues to see a significant volume of graffiti.
Out of 28,816 reported instances of graffiti vandalism in Seattle last year, only 35 were referred to the City Attorney’s Office for potential prosecution.
Davison noted some graffiti taggers have grown confident in their work by posting them on social media sites. This includes one prolific tagger who goes by “WESH”, who uses the Instagram handle “@standardcriminal.”
Seattle City Council Chair Sara Nelson and Councilmember Bob Kettle are sponsors of the bill. Nelson said she has been looking forward to “casting a hell yes vote” on the legislation ever since she was first briefed on the proposal.
Nelson is the co-founder and owner of Fremont Brewing, a Seattle based craft brewery. She mentioned her experience as a business owner having to deal with business property getting tagged by graffiti artists.
“I care less about the $6 million that graffiti vandalism removal costs the city, and much more about the time, effort, and cost to small businesses to remove it,” Nelson said.
Nelson noted that graffiti is the single most common complaint she receives from constituents.
Council Bill 120995 will be discussed by the Public Safety Committee on July 8.
