LA To Require Anti-graffiti Coating on New Buildings

Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - All new buildings in Los Angeles -- including homes - - will have to have an anti-graffiti coating under a proposed ordinance that the City Council will consider today.

Exceptions may be granted if the property owners sign a contract and promise to remove any graffiti on their property within a week after it appears.

The proposed ordinance will take effect 30 days after being signed by the mayor.

Under the current language of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, single- family dwellings are exempted from the requirement of having an impermeable surface such as ceramic tile or baked enamel.

Such anti-graffiti coating is to cover the walls and doors from the ground level to a height of at least nine feet.

The proposed ordinance will extend the requirement to all buildings, unless their owners sign a "Covenant and Agreement Regarding Maintenance of Building (Graffiti Removal)" with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

That contract would bind owners to remove any graffiti on their buildings within seven days of the graffiti being applied, or within 72 hours of being notified by the department.

Then-Councilwoman -- now City Controller -- Wendy Greuel asked for the exception when she introduced the proposed ordinance, noting that anti-graffiti coating "often discolors the surface of buildings and is not always environmentally friendly."

The Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council is against the proposed ordinance, saying: "While this may be a well-intentioned effort to keep businesses, etc. from being `victimized' by graffiti twice -- once by taggers, then again by the possibility of a city fine -- allowing graffiti to stay visible to the public for seven days effectively rewards taggers, providing them with more than twice the window to showcase their vandalism, and makes ongoing removal efforts worthless."