Asheville City Council on April 22 approved a battle plan to spend up to $300, beginning July 1, to combat graffiti vandalism.

The plan was approved 6-1, with Councilman Cecil Bothwell casting the negative vote. Bothwell said he was dubious that the program would work and did not like the idea of making private property owners pay for cleanup. Other council members said that, while they were not entirely happy with the plan, something must be done at once to address Asheville’s burgeoning graffiti problem and that this was the best idea at the moment.

The plan includes removing graffiti as soon as possible, instituting civil penalties for vandals, in addition to criminal ones, and asking the state General Assembly to toughten criminal graffiti laws.

Also, the city will cover 90 percent of the cost of removing graffiti from private property July 1-Sept. 30. After that, the responsibility passes to the property owners. If they don’t keep their properties graffiti-free, the city will do the job and charge the owners. In addition, the city vowed to step up efforts to remove graffiti from public property, as well as continuing education and enforcement.

A controversial element, which was discussed in detail at a recent meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners, focused on the question of why property owners should have to pay to clean up graffiti vandalism. (A story on the heated CIBO graffiti discussion appears on Page A9).

Conversely, city officials have said that the property-owners must pay because the city cannot afford to cover it  — unless it increased taxes on everyone’s property, an option council did not favor.

Boiling over at Asheville’s graffiti “artists,” John Boyle wrote in his April 27 column in the Asheville Citizen-Times, “It just amazes me that some residents are still calling for more understanding of the graffiti ‘artists,’ more leniency, more places for them to ‘express themselves’ because they have no other place to do so.

“I’d say by and large they’re expressing a bunch of infantile scribbles on other people’s property, including another artist’s work, which strikes me as incredibly disrespectful.

“Plus, doesn’t someone’s right to expression end where someone else’s property starts? What if the ‘artist’ chose to express himself by bashing holes in the siding with a sledgehammer?

“The resulting pattern could be viewed as ‘artistic expression’ of a sort, even ‘art’ by some standards.

“And by all standards it would be damage to property, a crime. That’s the crux here: If someone paints on your property without your permission, they’re damaging your property, and that’s a crime.

“It’s not complicated, and it’s not ‘artistic expresssion,” Boyle concluded.

Meanwhile, the Council of Independent Business Owners on April 4 held a heated discussion over the city’s graffiti issue at A-B Tech’s Haynes Conference Room.

Mac Swicegood, who chaired the discussed, told those at the meeting, “Right now, I’ve got a building downtown with ‘no trespassing’ signs in front, saying, ‘Yes, if I catch you, I’m taking you to court’ ... That’s what we’re having to do downtown — and it’s a disgrace.

He asked District Attorney Ron Moore “to come up and tell us where we can proceed from the law.”

Moore said, “Graffiti is a problem that has exacerbated itself over the year.

“We started a  nuisance court a few years ago. And we’ve run” more than 1,000 people through it. “We’ve run 31 graffitti people through our nuisance court and 28 completed community service. So 28 out of 31 were successful... Three of them have gotten traffic tickets, 10 with new graffiti, with 14 charged with nothing new.

“Who are we bringing in on graffiti? Most are (ages) 18-38, one-third unemployed, one-third work downtown, washing dishes ... (they are) out doing graffitti at 2 or 3 in the morning. Most people aren’t going to get up at 4 in the morning to spray graffiti,” Moore noted, triggering laughter from the CIBO meeting attendees.

The DA said his office is “trying to get truth in sentencing,” but there are “not enough prison beds to deal with what were dealing with.

He added that “sentencing (for misdemeanors, such as graffiti and shoplifting) is not adequate.” As a result, he said, “If you’re buying things, it’s costing you more.

“At Christmas time — it’s unbelievable how many people are stealing... Some people make their living stealing.”

Regarding graffiti, Moore said, “The one we see every day is injury to real property — a class 1 misdemeanor...  Generally, we don’t give people — on a first charge — active time... We give them probation” or other penalties. “If we did jail them, we’d have to build more jails.”

He added, “Deterrence, I think, would be the way to fly... On the third time (offense), make it a felony. A lot of kids want to go to college. They don’t want a felony” on their records.

Moore then noted, “A few years ago,” there were “(Greenpeace) trespassers at the power plant” at Lake Julian. “‘I need a felony,’ I told someone. We don’t go in and occupy people’s businesses... We got the five off the tower... We kept their climbing equipment. That is a deterrent. Also, our watershed — we don’t want people to break into our watershed....

“If it’s a felony, then we have some leverage in court to get the cost recouped... These are some problems we need to address sooner than later,” Moore said. “I think the only way we can catch these people.... is to have police out late,” Moore asserted. 

Closing on a lighter note, Moore said he sometimes is asked about a gang that leaves the graffiti tag “MOMs.” He triggered much laughter when he noted that MOMs is no fearsome gang — rather, it is the acronym for “Marks on Most Surfaces,” which is included in the instructions on most spraypaint cans used by less-than-creative graffiti vandals.

Swicegood then called on Bob Lawrence Jr., who owns and runs a power equipment business at 265 Broadway St., who lamented that “my building gets painted at least twice a month. They like to party on the roof. It’s cost us $7,000 to $10,000.... They poke holes in it (the roof). I told the switchboard at the police department ... ‘“If I catch him (the vandal), I’ll break his arms.’”

Also, Lawrence said he does not think it is fair that the city will fine a business that is the victim of a graffiti vandal for not cleaning off the damage by a certain deadline. Others at the meeting expressed similar sentiments.