So... the other week the Board of Commissioners discussed the proposed amendment(s) to the Graffiti Ordinance at a public meeting.

The ordinance amendment(s) is a good step although slightly unrealistic - you don't have to go to just Mapes or whatever in Ardmore to buy spray paint, and requiring owners to clean up graffiti on their properties within 5 days, while admirable is unrealistic. What if a property owner is out of town or lives out of town? What if they are ill or infirmed or handicapped?

The idea of getting graffiti cleaned up shouldn't be making victims (property owners) criminals. Then it just becomes about generating revenue.

In many major metropolitan cities, including Philadelphia, if you check you will find property owners are given at least 10 days to get graffiti cleaned up. That is reasonable.

Also, what was not mentioned during this discussion was the citizen initiative which undoubtedly provoked this conversation in the first place. Efforts of people like Ardmore Clean Up Group and Save Ardmore Coalition, in particular.

Ardmore Clean Up gets people together and cleans up the streets of Ardmore. They are fostering a new sense of community while they are at it. For a very long time now, SAC has been proactive when it comes to combatting graffiti. We photograph and notify folks about graffiti. We offer to assist with painting over graffiti. Our group President, Sharon Eckstein, for one, has spent hours of her personal time reaching out to property owners on this topic. It is her vision to not only perhaps get graffiti offenders to clean up their mess when caught, but to channel their efforts in a more positive manor. As a group, we are very intrested in a mural arts program.

It's just a simple request really: give SAC and Ardmore Clean Up Group a little bit of public kudos. We've been at this particular thing a long time. And we have had successes we can attribute to our efforts...

Posted on Tue, Jul 1, 2008
Township on mission to clean up graffiti
By Cheryl Allison

Just as there are gateway drugs, there are gateway crimes, Lower Merion police say, and graffiti is one of them.Now the township is considering new regulations intended to keep that door closed as tight as possible.

At their meeting July 2, Lower Merion commissioners were to consider advertising an amendment to the township's Anti-Graffiti Ordinance that would set new requirements for stores selling the materials of graffiti.

Another new section of the ordinance would require owners or occupants of properties where graffiti appears to quickly remove the markings.

Lower Merion Township has had an anti-graffiti ordinance on the books for many years, at least since the 1970s, said police Superintendent Joseph Daly. That's when the activity was a plague in communities in many areas of the country, Daly said.

To the Editor

This past week Lower Merion Police Chief Joe Daly proposed an amendment to the commissioners regarding the existing graffiti ordinance, for which each and every commissioner voted to further pursue the amendment through public notice.

The ordinance states that you must be 18 years of age to purchase spray paint or indelible markers, and that merchants must lock these items up and post at the cash register that these items can only be purchased by a person of age.

Let’s forget for a moment that this will do nothing to stop those who wish to commit property crimes with spray paint as they can order a greater selection at a cheaper price over the Internet. Just Google “graffiti supplies” and you will see 296,000 choices, many with no credit card needed.

Let’s also forget for a moment that this places yet another unnecessary bureaucratic burden on business owners.

Of greatest concern to me is the fact that property owners in Lower Merion will now be fined a substantial amount of money if they do not remove graffiti from their property within five days. This seems to be an extremely short period of time, and especially so for those who are on vacation.

This strikes me as a back-door tax.....Andy Meyers, Lower Merion