City of Yakima Changes Approach on it’s Graffiti Problem

The City of Yakima has been dealing with graffiti since the early 1990's and at last nights Council meeting the city revamped it's policy on graffiti removal and abatement. Council members endorsed a plan submitted by the City Manager that will ultimately result in quicker removal.

The old policy would fine a property owner if they didn't remove graffiti from their property with a specified time frame. Now the property owner will have a short period of time to remove graffiti and if they don't the city will then remove it so the graffiti does not stay up for a long period of time. The Yakima Police will also investigate and prosecute more taggers. The goal is to clean up Yakima and not allow graffiti to continue to harm our image and reputation. The changes should be in place in the next 30 days.