High Point Approves Graffiti Ordinance

HIGH POINT -- When does one person's art become graffiti that's considered a public nuisance?

When it's on a public facility or on a private building whose owner doesn't want it there. Otherwise, it's a constitutionally protected free expression - art, if you will.

By unanimously adopting a public nuisance ordinance amendment Monday, the High Point City Council made unwelcome street art, or graffiti, a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and the cost of removal.

"When graffiti is left on buildings and structures around town, it encourages other graffiti and can encourage criminal activity and represents ... potential safety hazards to the residents of this community," said High Point police Chief Jim Fealy. "(The amendment) does not prevent freedom of speech and ... somebody from writing something on their own property, but it does prevent someone from defacing the public property of the city and state, or the private property of an individual without their consent."

The purpose of the ordinance amendment is to encourage the swift removal of unwanted graffiti. If the person who draws it can be found - although usually not the case - they must remove it in 24 hours and will be assessed the cost of removing it.

If the violator cannot be found and it's on private property, police attorney Brian Beasley told council members, the property owner will have to remove it or cover it. Whenever the violator is caught, they would be required to reimburse the property owner.

Councilman Ron Wilkins asked Fealy if graffiti was a citywide problem.

"It's all over the city," Fealy said. "We find it everywhere, but it is localized in some troubled areas of the city."

The problem of graffiti was highlighted by recent N.C. Crime Commission grants received by the city as a "public safety and disorder issue," Fealy said. As gang activity increases, graffiti is used more and more as a medium of communication or conflict between them, he said.

This article appeared in Tuesday's edition of the High Point Enterprise.