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Label:
Emergency ordinance
*Amend Graffiti Materials and Sales Code to allow for misdemeanor penalties resulting from graffiti application using right-of-way (amend Code Chapter 14B.85)
Referred
The City of Portland ordains.
Section 1. The Council finds:
- The City of Portland aims to enhance livability in every neighborhood and improve the realities and perceptions of safety and cleanliness for all residents, businesses, and visitors.
- Graffiti vandalism has been present in Portland for generations, with a documented history dating back to the 1940s, yet in recent years the issue has become widespread, degrading the City’s natural beauty, increasing the visibility of urban blight, obscuring road signage, and inviting other types of crime.
- The City of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has reported a 586% increase in graffiti complaints between 2020 (897 complaints) and 2022 (5,260 complaints).
- The rise in graffiti vandalism is correlated with a decrease in foot traffic in Downtown Portland, which allows for conditions in which additional crimes persist, harming the City and the State’s economy, discouraging revitalization and private investments.
- The average Portlander is concerned with graffiti vandalism, with 61% of Portland voters, in an October 2023 poll conducted by DHM Research responding that graffiti was a “very big” or “moderately big” problem.
- In the 2022-2023 Portland Insights Survey, respondents identified graffiti as a concern when speaking about community safety challenges, feeling unsafe, and being a contributing factor towards their feelings that Portland is a “lawless” city.
- Property damage, such as graffiti vandalism, has contributed to the escalation of past protests, transforming peaceful demonstrations into unlawful assemblies.
- The current practice of graffiti investigations burdens an already under resourced police force that has only 1.2 officers per 1,000 residents and an emergency response time four times longer than the national standard.
- The City’s existing graffiti program offers no-cost or reduced-cost graffiti removal assistance to residents, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations; however this program does not proactively prevent additional graffiti from appearing throughout the City.
- The abatement of graffiti vandalism financially burdens other local businesses, who are allowed twenty days to remove graffiti from their property, at their own expense, before the City hires a contractor to clean up the graffiti and charges the vandalized business for the removal service.
- Graffiti abatement costs the City of Portland and the State of Oregon millions of dollars per year, including ODOT's March 2024 allocation of $4 million for graffiti cleanup on Portland’s highways.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs:
- Amend City Code Chapter 14B.85 as shown in Exhibit A, which includes the amended City Charter changes passed by City Council on December 11, 2024.
- As part of aligning City Code with the amended City Charter, Council adopted through Ordinance 192002 a revised Title 14 with an effective date of January 10, 2025. That revised Title 14 did not include additional substantive changes to Chapter 14B.85. For the purposes of avoiding conflict, Exhibit A for the new Chapter 14B.85 is intended to be effective January 1, 2025 and will be incorporated into the revised Title 14 on January 10, 2025 and take precedent. The code amendments to Chapter 14B.85 from Ordinance 192002 will be deemed repealed and of no effect upon the effective date of Ordinance 192002.
Section 2. The Council declares that an emergency exists because any delay in enforcement would further erode livability in the City of Portland and law enforcement urgently require additional mechanisms to prevent escalations of peaceful protests into civil unrest; therefore, this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect on January 1, 2025.
Official record (Efiles)
Impact Statement
Purpose of proposed legislation and background information
The proposed ordinance aims to address graffiti vandalism applied using public rights-of-way. It prohibits the act of applying spray paint to property within or by utilizing the right-of-way without proper authorization. The proposed ordinance would implement a fine and/or imprisonment for persons found guilty of this offense, and require a penalty of 7 days of imprisonment and 50 hours of community service for each violation.
Financial and budgetary impacts
No financial or budgetary impacts.
Economic and real estate development impacts
The proposed ordinance would introduce provisions that would dissuade the initial application of graffiti vandalism to properties in or by using the public rights-of-way. Graffiti abatement/removal is costly to both private business owners and public partners. The presence of graffiti vandalism is correlated to decreased foot traffic, feelings of personal safety, and has a negative economic impact on businesses and neighborhoods that are routinely targeted.
Community impacts and community involvement
This proposed ordinance was created in response to sustained concerns about graffiti vandalism among a majority of Portland residents. Residents and business owners have continuously voiced concerns about graffiti vandalism's impact on the realities and perceptions of public safety, cleanliness, and economic disinvestment. Stakeholders who were engaged included the Public Safety Service Area, Portland Police Bureau, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, Multnomah County District Attorney's Office, TriMet, the NAACP, and local small business owners.
100% renewable goal
This legislation does not have an impact on the City’s renewable energy goals.